A pee wee hockey team in the greater Saint John area is one of three Canadian finalists in a contest that could greatly benefit needy children in the community.
“We’re trying to end child poverty in the area of Saint John, so we have to help them so they can eat and live and have a good life when they’re older,” said Jaxon Price of the Kennebecasis Valley Pee Wee Devils.
The Devils are one of three finalists in the Chevrolet Good Deeds Cup. The winning team will be announced Saturday night and will receive $100,000 towards their charity of choice.
If they win, the Devils plan to forward the cash to the YMCA of Greater Saint John for distribution to seven priority schools in the area.
“We started off by going door to door asking for donations and then we got a little bigger by going to Superstore,” said Devils goalie Spencer Johnson.
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“We got about 200 cereal boxes, probably more than that”
The highlight of the campaign was a delivery to Princess Elizabeth School in Saint John’s north end and assisting in the school’s breakfast program. It made a difference to others and had a distinct impact on the players.
“I almost cried,” said Nathan Trites. “Three hundred of them … don’t have breakfast every morning so they have to go to school hungry.”
Other players had similar reactions.
“I just like helping them because they don’t have a lot of things,” said Sophie Ryall. “It’s just a nice thing to do.”
Jack Porter added: “I just think it’s like good to help the kids that need it.”
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Team officials say the experience has been educational for everyone.
“They’ve learned organization, they’ve learned community support. The amount of media coverage that they’ve got,” said Devils Assistant Coach Todd Price.
“These guys have been almost little rock stars in Saint John for the last probably month.”
For making it to the final three, the team is already guaranteed $5,000.
Winning the $100,000 would be fantastic but there’s a feeling there are already no losers.
“We already gave to people and we already helped other communities and I feel like we already won,” said Devils player Colton Reid.
The other two teams in the finals are the Pionniers de Lanaudière AAA of Quebec and the West Carleton Warriors from the Ottawa area.
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