The Lethbridge Hurricanes unleashed a flurry of fur Friday night, after forward Logan Wormald’s goal in the team’s 26th annual toque and teddy toss game.
Nearly 4,000 teddy bears and 1,000 toques were collected by the Canes, while an $11,000 donation brought the total to 5,200 stuffed animals going to southern Alberta charities.
On Monday, members of the Canes distributed some of those donations to local pediatric clients at the audiology and children’s health services unit.
“It really puts into perspective what we do this for,” said Hurricanes goalie Bryan Thomson.
“It’s a great cause and to be able to bring a little more joy into children’s lives in the holiday season, it’s a good feeling.”
The Chinook Regional Hospital is one of the organizations receiving bears, getting around 700 this year.
The stuffed animals will go to children in multiple departments, including pediatric care, the emergency room and ICU.
Child life specialist Jodie Anderson-De Boer calls the donations a healing tool for recipients.
“It’s a form of medicine, like a narrative therapy to be able to tell the story of, ‘This is the teddy I got when I broke my arm or this is the bear I got when I got diagnosed with diabetes,'” said Anderson-De Boer.
“Hospitalization can be really stressful, increase anxiety. Just the ability to give the teddy bear helps calm everyone’s nerves, normalize the hospital experience a little bit and make it a little bit more palatable for the family to be in hospital.”
Monday’s visits marking the first opportunity for players to witness the impact of the toque and teddy toss in-person since 2019, a special moment for WHL veterans Jett Jones, Cole Shepard and Bryan Thomson.
“We haven’t been able to do it for a couple years now, so finally being able to get back helping the community and the kids, it’s an awesome feeling.”
And an uplifting moment for the children on the receiving end of the community’s generosity.
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