EDMONTON -- Thanks to young hockey players working just as hard off the ice as on it, $342,000 was raised for the Stollery Children's Hospital Foundation last weekend.
The 10th annual Stollery Family Day hockey Classic involves 83 teams from novice to bantam. Not only did they keep score on the Terwillegar Community Recreation Centre ice, teams competed to raise the most money for donation.
"This tournament is about teaching kids about giving back," said Mike House, Stollery Hospital Foundation president and CEO. "We live in a very fortunate community so the kids will go out into their own networks and try to raise a little bit of money."
The 4-on-4 tournament wrapped up Monday afternoon by announcing the overall fundraising champion, Riley Landsperg of the SWAT Golden Hawks. He was presented the Stollery Cup thanks to bringing in $18,350.
"It's not millions of dollars at a time, it's quarters and loonies and 10 dollars at a time," added House. "It really goes to show you that’s kids are very generous and they want to make a difference in the lives of others."
The money raised will go directly to improving the Stollery Children's Hospital's oncology and hematology playroom areas, which haven't been upgraded in years.
"With almost 300,000 patient visits last year at the Stollery and only a million children in the whole province, you know, there are kids in this tournament who are either beneficieries of the Stollery or maybe someday in the future may need the Stollery for support."
Since 2011, the Family Day Classic has raised $3.2 million in support of the Stollery Children’s Hospital Foundation and Hockey Edmonton.
