Steve and Katie Koopman have only recently returned to their home just north of Kingston.
They spent a week in Fort Hope north of Thunder Bay.
Their interest in the community or more specifically in the girls’ peewee hockey team “Rez Girls 64” Wolves goes back to a documentary that Katie heard on the radio.
“They had gone to a tournament a year ago,” explained Katie. “Their first tournament in Thunder Bay and it was a good experience but then they experienced some racism. I don’t think that trumped their whole experience in Thunder Bay.”
The girls’ team also faced challenges with equipment, ice time and were in the process of fundraising to participate in another tournament in Kanata last March.
The Koopmans have a small photography business and offered to take pictures for the team but that offer expanded into much more.
Steve Koopman says they set up a GoFundMe page to buy Ottawa Senators tickets for the peewee girls’ team while they were at the Kanata hockey tournament.
“We met our goal within pretty much 24 to 48 hours which I believe originally was $3,000 and by the end of it, we were over $10,000.”
The remainder of the money was donated to an organization called Teach for Canada. Katie says the non-profit helps recruit teachers for northern First Nations communities.
“It’s a bit of a training ground to prepare them culturally, to prepare them with the standards of each community.”
An autographed jersey from the Rez Girls 64 team is now proudly displayed in the Koopman’s family home.
It’s a memory of their trip and the connection made with the Fort Hope community.