It’s been one week since a horrific attack at Evan Hardy Collegiate in Saskatoon, when a 15-year-old girl was intentionally lit on fire by another student.
Students have since returned to class, and on Thursday the school is hosting its welcome back football game.
But the game this year has an entirely new meaning.
Fans are wearing purple at Gorden Howe Park for the game, as students have been wearing purple all week in support of the 15-year-old girl.
The welcome back football game and pizza party would have taken place last week but was cancelled because of what happened at the school.
Sean Morton is an advisor with McFaul Financial and one of the football coaches at Evan Hardy. This week, McFaul Financial donated pizza for the entire school ahead of the game.
“The game and pizza is a pretty big morale-boosting event inside the school. And they certainly need that more than ever right now,” Morton said.
Morton said his wife teaches at the school and his son attends classes there.
“A lot of people here have students that go to the school,” Morton said. “It is a struggle. I can only imagine the Grade 9s who had this happen in their first week of high school.”
The pizza comes from Santa Lucia Pizza, which said it does fundraisers all the time, but this one feels different.
“It’s 110 pizzas for over 1,000 people,” said Jun Wu, the Santa Lucia Pizza manager. “I think it is a great thing. Sean told me, ‘Hey, I want to cover the bill. We can’t let the students down.’ It is quite amazing.”
Morton said it goes to show how something as simple as pizza and football can bring the community closer together when it’s needed most.