Marten Falls and Eabametoong First Nations youth benefit from hockey equipment drive
Drive for hockey gear a huge success for First Nation community
By The Daily Press - March 31, 2011
Nishnawbe-Aski Police Service Const. Marc Beauparlant has seen the puck drop successfully on his idea.
In October, Beauparlant, the DARE officer for NAPS Marten Falls Detachment, began a skate drive to ensure that everyone in the First Nation community would enjoy the upcoming new arena facility.
The skate drive started off well in the community of Hearst with about 60 pairs of skates and some hockey equipment donations. From there, OPP Const. Paul Harrison, also a DARE officer for the South Porcupine detachment. got involved and brought along retired NHL player Peter Ing and KidzCanHelp.ca, resulting in more donations of 20 full sets of hockey equipment, including the transportation of the equipment.
A total of 42 children and 33 adults were outfitted with hockey equipment. The total amount of donations received were 90 helmets, 39 hockey sticks, 306 skates, 26 hockey bags, three pairs of goalie skates, 23 goalie equipment pieces, 325 hockey jerseys, 632 hockey player equipment pieces, along with 17 roller blades and protective gear.
"As the initiative surpassed my expectations, I decided to send the surplus to our neighbouring community of Fort Hope," Beauparlant said.