The second season of the Play It Forward fundraiser for Border City Connects will skate off on a 12-hour hockey game on Friday April 21.
Spectators are being invited to pack in at the Servus Sports Centre from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. to cheer on the over 40-players who have signed away their endurance to raise funds for a new vehicle to take residents to non-emergency medical appointments in urban centres.
Event planner Aaron Buckingham says their target is at least $60,000 as they aim to allow Border City Connects to be able to go to a dealership and get a replacement vehicle.
“These are the units that drive people to and from Edmonton or Saskatoon – or even around Lloydminster that are unable to get to their medical appointments and things like that, without the assistance of Border City Connects. The particular unit that we are fundraising to replace this year has crossed 300,000 kilometres – and the last thing that I want to see is someone’s grandmother on the way to Edmonton, broke down on the side of the road.”
The players who are putting their stamina to the test will play six-hours of the 12-hour game. Organizers say there will be two-teams wearing white and two-teams with blue shirts – with 10-players per team. The score will be cumulative with a winning team to be announced at the end.
Buckingham says the 49-players are each raising $500 to play in the game and residents may go on the Border City Connects website to make a contribution there.
“These guys are playing a lot of hockey on Friday and any kind of fans in the stands, you know that little extra thing – that gives everybody playing a little more motivation. It’s a long day and we really can’t thank the people that have stepped up to play in this game enough. We really couldn’t do this without great community support, both from our players and from those people that are donating. It’s them that makes this go.”
Last year the event raised $63,000 to assist Border City Connects in the replacement of one of its Handivans.