SHEARWATER, N.S. – Military families across the country are being encouraged to get active. Sporting equipment will be donated to various Canadian Forces Bases, including the one at Shearwater, N.S.
Canadian Tire Corporation is donating $330,000. worth of sports equipment to military families living on Canadian Forces Bases as part of a partnership with Canadian Forces Morale and Welfare Services.
“That will be over 30 donations spread across the country to help military families and their kids get more active, which is something very important to us in our stores,” said Landon French, the Vice-President of Community Relations for Canadian Tire.
The donations at Shearwater came in the form of a kayak and a canoe.
“To get some kayaks and canoes here for the military families here at 12 Wing is great,” said Col. Peter Allan, the Wing Commander at 12 Wing Shearwater.
“It gives families an opportunity to get out and pursue some recreational activities together as a family — helps keep everybody fit and healthy and contributes greatly to our overall effectiveness as a military operation.”
There were about 100 people on hand – many of them children enjoying recreation month, trying the bike ride rodeo and playing ball hockey. Canadian Tire already has a program called Jump Start, which helps disadvantaged families afford sports activities. So the company thought they’d expand and help military families as well.
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“We also recognize that military families move a lot and sometimes the recreational facilities don’t quite meet their needs,” said French. “So we want to make sure they have what they need to have fun, either on the base or in the local community.”
Col. Allan says there’s been a long-running relationship between the military and Canadian Tire.
“They got involved while we were still deployed in Afghanistan as the Canadian Forces – got involved through some of the missions there visiting and seeing what was going on and decided they wanted to do something to help the families,” he said. “They started off in the past to make sure that recreational activities were available to families at home.”
The kayak presentation included an appearance by Mark de Jonge of Halifax, who won a bronze medal at the 2012 Olympics in London in the K-1 200 metre race.
Last weekend, de Jonge was also named Nova Scotia’s Male Athlete of the Year. He signed autographs and posed for pictures with those in attendance.
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