In spite of our best efforts, we sometimes have to turn kids away from our more popular leagues – the OHL in particular – because of not having enough equipment to outfit them properly. But thanks to a generous donation from the Huddle Up Foundation, that problem is being rectified!

Throughout the season, Sport Venture staff orders many odds and ends from Extreme Hockey and Sport, who are big supporters of the Huddle Up Foundation.

“When Extreme Hockey and Sport heard the Huddle Up Foundation was wanting to branch out into hockey through their new Lace Up initiative, they put the foundation in touch with us, since we’re a perfect fit,” explained Sport Venture manager Amanda McConnell.

And when the Huddle Up foundation heard that Sport Venture was turning kids away from the OHL this season because of a lack of equipment they immediately did something about it, donating 58 pairs of skates, 25 helmets, 40 pairs of gloves, and 25 elbow pads to get more kids on the ice.

“They said there will be more to follow, but they wanted to get the initial donation to us right away so that we won’t have to turn away any more kids,” Amanda said.

So far, 20 kids have been turned away, but Amanda is hoping that word of mouth about the recent donation will bring them back.

“Often, we were able to dress a kid three quarters of the way and they might only be missing one or two pieces. When that happened, we’d take their information and call them as soon as we got in the equipment they were needing. But if we were missing more than 50 per cent of the gear required, we’d give them a stick and tell them to check back – we didn’t take their information because we really didn’t think we’d get a donation of this magnitude.”

Community partnerships are what allows Sport Venture to continue to provide free-of-charge sporting opportunities for youth in the city.

“It’s really incredible the support that we receive from members of the community like Extreme Hockey and Sport and the Lace Up Foundation,” Amanda said. “It’s hard to put into words the gratitude we feel here at Sport Venture. We’re able to get more kids on the ice than we ever imagined this year.”