One local school's charity effort is about to reach new fruition with a Mini Nations Soccer Tournament on Friday.
A few years ago, Richard S. Fowler Junior High School started a Mitten Tree, a Christmas tree on display to encourage the staff and students to hang mittens and hats that would be collected and given to kids who didn't have them at Mother Teresa Catholic Elementary School in Edmonton's inner city.
"I was moved by how great the need was there," explained Barbara Meyer, the librarian at Fowler.
More than 80 per cent of the students at Mother Teresa are in need, with at least 200 of them also making use of the lunch program on a daily basis, she said.
Mittens for winter was nice, but that school's secretary told Meyer, "the kids really need socks and underwear."
Hence, the Giving Tree was born.
Now available on a year-round basis, anyone can drop off seasonal clothing, food items, used books, sporting equipment and other items to be donated to the community and its student population at Mother Teresa.
The project has now expanded into a kind of active outreach effort. With the co-operation of this city's Impact Soccer program, 30 boys and girls from the U12 league will be playing against 30 of Mother Teresa's players, all of whom play in the Free Footie free soccer program, started by CBC Edmonton radio host Tim Adams. There will be 10 teams of six players each representing different countries as they play short scrimmages in a mini World Cup setting.
"It's just a really feel good event to try to raise awareness of the need in inner city schools and have our kids here have an opportunity to get to know those kids," Meyer said.
The action takes place from 4 to 5:30 p.m. on Friday at Edmonton's Clarke Field, 11000 Stadium Rd. Members of the public can attend for free.
Play ball for Bunz charity
KidSport's St. Albert chapter wants the boys – and girls – of summer to come out to play ball for a weekend of fun. It's the group's annual charity slo-pitch tournament, something that should combine the best of sports and community supports all at the same time.
"It's going to be really good ball. There's lots of young guys and girls around and lots of good slo-pitch. It will be fun to watch," encouraged Klayton Deputan, the group's organizer.
The event flew a bit under the radar last year as the chapter was still in the very early stages of formalizing itself. It also suffered from a bad case of second-day-cancellation-due-to-rainy-weather-itis. Deputan has his fingers crossed that the sky will be sunny and blue for this year's edition.
Organizers already consider the event a bona fide success as they've received registrations for more than 20 teams, filling up the event. Deputan still hopes the public comes out to support the players and the cause as there will surely be enough entertainment for everyone.
Each team has minimums of seven men and three women. The games are NSA sanctioned with carded umpires.
The event will also include a silent auction, 50/50 raffle draw, a home run derby, and Saturday evening entertainment with a live performance by DRT Band.
Edmonton Oilers goalie prospect Tyler Bunz started the event last year because he thinks "every kid deserves to play the sport that they love, whether they have the money for it or not. Every kid deserves the chance to do something special."
He's also thrilled that the event has grown in popularity.
"We had about nine or 10 teams at bat last year. I didn't expect it to be this big. I was hoping for about 14, 15, 16 … it's skyrocketed. It's pretty amazing."
Bunz, who played last season with the Stockton Thunder of the East Coast Hockey League, will also be in the action. He said there will be a few teams filled with buddies from his WHL days and other NHL prospects turning out too.
After several months of struggling to build up the coffers, the KidSport chapter is still ramping up support and getting closer to being able to offer sports funding to local youths. The group got a healthy shot in the arm with a cheque for $2,500 from the St. Albert Progress Club in early May. On the last weekend of last month, it got another boost from the Road Rage Street Hockey Tournament.
Deputan said that they are getting ever closer to securing their purse so that KidSport can commence offering financial assistance in this city come September.
The two-day tournament takes place Saturday and Sunday, June 15 and 16 at the Meadowview Ball Diamonds.
For more information or to register, contact Tyler Bunz at [email protected].
For more information, visit www.kidsport.ab.ca or via e-mail at [email protected].
