Lions Club of Medicine Hat member James Higgins organizes some chest protectors during their Gear Up program in 2019.-NEWS FILE PHOTO
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The Medicine Hat Lions Club is celebrating 10 years of its annual donation campaign geared toward helping families get their kids hockey and ringette equipment.
The program, which ran last year following a two-year hiatus due to COVID-19, has helped roughly 1,000 kids according to program coordinator James Higgins. He says there is a lot of pride within the club every time they run the program.
“There’s obviously a need out there. Kids grow every year, sometimes they grow mid-season and new equipment is so expensive,” Higgins said. “What we try and do is just get kids out of the house, get them away from their computers or screens and also, a lot of families are struggling these years. We’re just doing our part to try and serve the community. We’re Lions, we serve because it’s what we do.”
The event takes place over two days, Aug. 19 and 20, with the first being equipment donation day from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Hockey Hounds Arena. Any families with extra hockey gear in usable condition are asked to drop it off in this time frame.
The second is pickup day, where any families in need are able to pick up gear for free. Sunday also runs 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the arena and it is a first-come, first-served event.
The club is looking for equipment to outfit hockey and ringette players aged six to 16. That includes everything from CSA approved helmets, shin pads, skates and more, with the exception of jocks/jills. Hockey bags, goalie equipment and sticks are also accepted by Gear Up.
There will be Medicine Hat Minor Hockey representatives on site to ensure any item donated is usable and safe for the next child to use.
“We are not sending out anything that’s not safe,” Higgins said. “We will take all donations, we don’t care what it is. But if it doesn’t meet standard safety standards, we’re not going to put a kid in danger.”
Higgins says it is a rewarding program for them, and remembers one child from their third year of operation.
“This young kid, about seven years old with a single mother, they came in and we were able to outfit him from head to toe. He was so happy,” Higgins said. “He didn’t want to take this stuff off. It still affects me a bit because his mother was so emotionally struck with tears in her eyes, thanking us. Because if it wasn’t for us, she wouldn’t be able to get her kid involved.”
Another program available for Medicine Hat and area families in need, KidSport, provides grants to kids from families facing financial barriers so they can participate in registered sport programs.
They cover registration costs of sports for kids 18 and under for up to $300 per year per child, and will have a representative on site to help provide more information.
Anyone looking for more information of KidSport and how to apply for a grant can do so at kidsportcanada.ca/alberta/medicine-hat-and-redcliff/.
The Gear Up event has three sponsors, with the Dayz Off Pub, Casas Fruit stand and Taco Time. Taco Time and Casas Fruit stand have both offered advertising times on their displays for the Lions Club and Dayz Off is holding a door prize for anyone who picks up equipment to enter their name, with the winner receiving help to finish equipping their kids.
“Sometimes we don’t have the right size skates or the right size helmet, so it just shows what a community we live in,” Higgins said.
