Once again this year, Grade 3-4 students at St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic Elementary School collected a sizeable amount of sports equipment for remote First Nations communities in their annual equipment drive.
Teacher Maureen Richardson said the items, which will be sent to the Northern Ontario communities of Fort Albany, Attawapiskat, Lansdowne House and Kashechewan, includes everything from hockey equipment and bicycles, to fishing rods, lacrosse equipment and golf clubs.
The donations were collected as part of the sixth annual Winch Group Community Equipment Drive, held Nov. 14 at Mainway Arena in Burlington. Over the past five years, the initiative has collected and distributed hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of sporting goods.
Lindsay Webb, a Winch Group partner and organizer of the drive, said the amount collected at the school is larger than last year. “What a great effort this is,” he said to the students.
In addition to students bringing donations to school, a large amount of hockey equipment was donated through a Flamborough minor hockey team. Burlington sports equipment company Monilex donated 10 boxes of rugby equipment.
Webb noted the equipment is trucked to the northern communities with the help of the Ontario Provincial Police, who donate the use of their trailers and co-ordinate the communities in need.
When the equipment is brought to the communities, he said, children and families from surrounding areas are bused in to a community centre where the equipment is set up. “It’s almost like Christmas for them,” Webb explained.
OPP Sgt. Kevin Morgan co-ordinates the transportation and distribution of the equipment with the OPP’s Aboriginal Policing Bureau.
He noted the equipment is usually trucked to the communities near James soon after its is collected, but that’s not the case this year.
“This year we have to wait for the ice roads to freeze,” Morgan said. “So we’ll have to wait until mid-to-late January.”
Webb added the initiative usually fills two trucks and trailers and there easily hundreds of families who are helped by the drive.
‘Spectacular’
“Each year we get more and more equipment,” he said. “It’s pretty spectacular to see their eyes.”
He added it can often be difficult to purchase sports equipment in the remote areas.
“You might be 400 or 500 kilometres from the nearest store,” Webb explained
Webb added in many of the communities serviced by the drive, it’s not uncommon for children not to have a bicycle.
“It’s a special day for them,” he said of when the equipment arrives, adding they usually send 30-40 bicycles.
“Kids will just go nuts when they see them.”
Once again this year, Grade 3-4 students at St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic Elementary School collected a sizeable amount of sports equipment for remote First Nations communities in their annual equipment drive.
Teacher Maureen Richardson said the items, which will be sent to the Northern Ontario communities of Fort Albany, Attawapiskat, Lansdowne House and Kashechewan, includes everything from hockey equipment and bicycles, to fishing rods, lacrosse equipment and golf clubs.
The donations were collected as part of the sixth annual Winch Group Community Equipment Drive, held Nov. 14 at Mainway Arena in Burlington. Over the past five years, the initiative has collected and distributed hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of sporting goods.
Lindsay Webb, a Winch Group partner and organizer of the drive, said the amount collected at the school is larger than last year. “What a great effort this is,” he said to the students.
In addition to students bringing donations to school, a large amount of hockey equipment was donated through a Flamborough minor hockey team. Burlington sports equipment company Monilex donated 10 boxes of rugby equipment.
Webb noted the equipment is trucked to the northern communities with the help of the Ontario Provincial Police, who donate the use of their trailers and co-ordinate the communities in need.
When the equipment is brought to the communities, he said, children and families from surrounding areas are bused in to a community centre where the equipment is set up. “It’s almost like Christmas for them,” Webb explained.
OPP Sgt. Kevin Morgan co-ordinates the transportation and distribution of the equipment with the OPP’s Aboriginal Policing Bureau.
He noted the equipment is usually trucked to the communities near James soon after its is collected, but that’s not the case this year.
“This year we have to wait for the ice roads to freeze,” Morgan said. “So we’ll have to wait until mid-to-late January.”
Webb added the initiative usually fills two trucks and trailers and there easily hundreds of families who are helped by the drive.
‘Spectacular’
“Each year we get more and more equipment,” he said. “It’s pretty spectacular to see their eyes.”
He added it can often be difficult to purchase sports equipment in the remote areas.
“You might be 400 or 500 kilometres from the nearest store,” Webb explained
Webb added in many of the communities serviced by the drive, it’s not uncommon for children not to have a bicycle.
“It’s a special day for them,” he said of when the equipment arrives, adding they usually send 30-40 bicycles.
“Kids will just go nuts when they see them.”
Once again this year, Grade 3-4 students at St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic Elementary School collected a sizeable amount of sports equipment for remote First Nations communities in their annual equipment drive.
Teacher Maureen Richardson said the items, which will be sent to the Northern Ontario communities of Fort Albany, Attawapiskat, Lansdowne House and Kashechewan, includes everything from hockey equipment and bicycles, to fishing rods, lacrosse equipment and golf clubs.
The donations were collected as part of the sixth annual Winch Group Community Equipment Drive, held Nov. 14 at Mainway Arena in Burlington. Over the past five years, the initiative has collected and distributed hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of sporting goods.
Lindsay Webb, a Winch Group partner and organizer of the drive, said the amount collected at the school is larger than last year. “What a great effort this is,” he said to the students.
In addition to students bringing donations to school, a large amount of hockey equipment was donated through a Flamborough minor hockey team. Burlington sports equipment company Monilex donated 10 boxes of rugby equipment.
Webb noted the equipment is trucked to the northern communities with the help of the Ontario Provincial Police, who donate the use of their trailers and co-ordinate the communities in need.
When the equipment is brought to the communities, he said, children and families from surrounding areas are bused in to a community centre where the equipment is set up. “It’s almost like Christmas for them,” Webb explained.
OPP Sgt. Kevin Morgan co-ordinates the transportation and distribution of the equipment with the OPP’s Aboriginal Policing Bureau.
He noted the equipment is usually trucked to the communities near James soon after its is collected, but that’s not the case this year.
“This year we have to wait for the ice roads to freeze,” Morgan said. “So we’ll have to wait until mid-to-late January.”
Webb added the initiative usually fills two trucks and trailers and there easily hundreds of families who are helped by the drive.
‘Spectacular’
“Each year we get more and more equipment,” he said. “It’s pretty spectacular to see their eyes.”
He added it can often be difficult to purchase sports equipment in the remote areas.
“You might be 400 or 500 kilometres from the nearest store,” Webb explained
Webb added in many of the communities serviced by the drive, it’s not uncommon for children not to have a bicycle.
“It’s a special day for them,” he said of when the equipment arrives, adding they usually send 30-40 bicycles.
“Kids will just go nuts when they see them.”