Burlington City Rep Hockey Club Eagles
2nd Annual “Gift of Giving Back” Community Food Drive
LARGEST SINGLE DONATION TO FOOD BANK EVER !!!
The Burlington Eagles’ 500 hockey families really got into the giving spirit with great compassion by collecting and donating an astounding 19, 212 LBS of non-perishable goods during their food drive in mid-November! Close to 10 tons of food were donated to the Salvation Army Food Bank for the hungry and those in need in our community of Burlington.
"Unbelievable! Amazing! Isn’t it some kind of miracle?" were the words being echoed constantly throughout the two evenings of Eagle Team Photos at Mainway Auditorium.
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President John Tait and Major Ken Ritson, Salvation Army & Eagles surround some of the collected goods. |
The teams were enthusiastically responding to “The “Head Coach Challenge” laid down by the Burlington City Rep Eagles Executive. Teams were to match or exceed their head coach’s weight in donations and the weigh-ins were taking place as all teams arrived for photos, with 50 tickets to a Hamilton Bulldog game going to the team bringing in the heaviest contributions.
The winner of the challenge was the Tyke A team, under the encouraging leadership of Coach Darrin Piercey, who hauled in an incredible 2588 lbs of donations. Close behind this team were Coach Ron Plant and his Minor Peewee AAA team, who on Tuesday night contributed a fantastic 2364 lbs. In third place were Coach Deron Ellsworth and the Minor Peewee AA’s with their generous donation of 1851 lbs.
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Vice President Angelo Bentivegna (centre), Major Cathy Ritson (second from right) and Major Ken Ritson (right) present 50 Bulldog tickets to the winning Tyke A team. Accepted by Kim MacDonald (left)and her son Jacob MacDonald (second from left).
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Incredibly, all Eagle teams achieved their objective. In addition, BCRHC Executive responded heartily to their challenge to match and surpass President John Tait’s weight with a hefty contribution of 629lbs. What a testament to our Eagles families’ generosity, commitment, competitiveness, and good will!
“This is just huge,” said Mayor Cam Jackson, who made extra time in his schedule to extend his thanks personally on behalf of the City. “It shows the positive impact that we can make when we join together to help those in need. I am so thrilled to be here to see this”.
Major Ken Ritson of the Salvation Army concurred. He repeatedly expressed his heartfelt thanks to the Eagle organization. He said that there are 20 - 30 families here in Burlington who turn to the food bank on a regular basis. In addition, with the many layoffs this fall, he anticipated the need will be much greater at this time leading up to Christmas. “Many more people than you can imagine have a need to use our food bank,” he said. “This will help relieve suffering in so many ways we cannot know about. This is, by far, the largest single donation to our food bank, ever! We don’t know how we could have managed without this.”
According to President John Tait, this week’s achievement was no surprise. “Our Eagle families have incredible heart. And we couldn’t do it without our amazing volunteers who make it all happen. Through the Eagles ‘Gift of Giving Back Community Food Drive’, we are just extremely proud to once again partner with the Salvation Army to come to the aid of those in need.”
It was a wonderful two nights! Just magic!
Here are the results:
Junior Mites – 255 lbs – Coach Jeff Cunningham
Tyke A - Coach Darrin Piercey - 2588 lbs
Tyke AA – Coach Ron Smitko – 262 lbs
Tyke AAA – Coach Bruce Thompson – 774 lbs
Novice A – Coach Pat Smith - 381 lbs
Novice AA – Coach Jay Labelle – 439 lbs
Novice AAA – Coach Darcy Moore – 236 lbs
Minor Atom A – Coach Tracey Cameron – 510 lbs
Minor Atom AA – Coach Marc West – 468 lbs
Minor Atom AAA – Coach Jim Haslip – 1022 lbs
Atom A – Coach Jeff Johnson – 303 lbs
Atom AA – Coach John Downey – 269 lbs
Atom AAA – Coach Stew Lowry – 427 lbs
Minor Peewee A – Coach Terry Willis – 524 lbs
Minor Peewee AA – Deron Ellsworth – 1851 lbs
Minor Peewee AAA – Coach Ron Plant – 2364 lbs
Peewee A – Coach Tim Dyck – 267 lbs
Peewee AA – Coach Wayne Murray – 729 lbs
Peewee AAA – Coach Gary McConnell – 275 lbs
Minor Bantam A – Coach Bob Jurk – 539 lbs
Minor Bantam AA – Coach Len McMillan – 527 lbs
Minor Bantam AAA – Coach George Parker – 366 lbs
Bantam A – Coach Bill Ross – 497 lbs
Bantam AA – Coach Paul Shewfelt – 539 lbs
Bantam AAA – Dan Poliziani – 785 lbs
Minor Midget A – Coach Barry Hohol – 280 lbs
Minor Midget AA – Coach Jeff Opie – 262 lbs
Minor Midget AAA – Coach John MacDonald – 257 lbs
Midget AA – Coach Rick Wrobel – 224 lbs
Midget AAA – Coach Beric Sykes – 363 lbs
Eagles Executive – President John Tait – 629 lbs
Congratulations and a huge thank you to all Eagles families who contributed to this incredibly successful food drive. This is just another wonderful example of the generosity and compassion always shown by our hockey families. Eagles – you really showed your heart!!! Thank you, thank you, and thank you.
Special thanks to all the volunteers who helped make this event happen. And a round of applause to our fantastic coaches, who good-naturedly participated in the weigh-in and who encouraged their teams to achieve this great success!!
Thanks to the volunteers who cared:
Cathy Bakhuis, Debbie Barrafato, Paula Boulby, Jane and Brian Burrows, Jillian Debrone, Sheilagh Holloway, Krin Hunter, Lesley Lanchbury, Kim MacDonald, Joanne Martin, Tom Martin, Kaycee McGregor, Tracey McQueen, Kathie Mitchell, Patti Nesbitt, Carrie Overholt, Keith Parkinson, Milka Vukovic, Ann Watkin,
Monica Wright
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Volunteers Lesley Lanchbury and Paula Boulby update the "Gift of Giving Back Community Food Drive" scoreboard. |
Thanks to some hard-working Eagles
Ethan Lyons, Jon Gibson, Patrick Stiller, Bryson Barr, Liam Nesbitt,
Jacob MacDonald
Special Thanks to:
Victoria and Leon Denbok & Staff, Denbok Landscaping
Michael Freid, High Five Photography
Trevor Barr, Media Pro Inc.
Staff at Mainway Arena
Staff and Volunteers - Salvation Army
Very Special Thanks to Organizers:
Shelley Barr & Theresa Noseworthy
