 KIDS FOR KIDS Hockey Tournament Beneficiaries Celebrating Our 25th Hockey Tournament
The Kingston General Hospital Foundation
The Kingston Area Boys and Girls Club
Since the beginning of the Kids for Kids Hockey Tournament, 25 years ago, there have been just two major beneficiaries. The Kingston General Hospital Pediatric Unit and the Greater Kingston Boys and Girls Club. Each has received more than $25,000.00 per year, which has helped local children so much.
Last year the Kids for Kids committee got to see the latest contribution to the NEO NATAL unit in use… the GE VIVID IQ Altra Sound machine for the Kingston General Hospital. Kids for Kids was able to donate $100,000.00 to purchase this machine for our NEO NATAL Unit! Special thanks to Dr. Bob Connelly, head of Pediatrics for bringing the need to our attention.
“KIDS for KIDS plans on contributing more in the near future to the pediatric wing of the Kingston Health Sciences centre” said Garry McColman, Chair of Kids for Kids. “Making a difference in our community is what drives all our volunteers to come back every year to make sure this hockey tournament is a success”.
The Kingston General Hospital is a “regional” centre for Pediatrics and receives children for all over Eastern Ontario as patients! With this our 25th tournament we will once again give a gift of $25,000.00 to the University Kingston Hospital Foundation for the Pediatric Unit.
The Boys and Girls Club used its portion to pay its fair share of the capital costs to operate the Robert Meek Community Youth Centre. Now they have been operating their west end location in the Frontenac Mall and have expanded their ability to host young people in the Kingston area by 10 times! Once again this year we have promised a $30,000.00 contribution from our 25th annual hockey tournament, our 13th annual golf tournament in July and our 13th annual Christmas luncheon in December!
In total, our Kids for Kids organization has contributed more than $ 1.5 Million dollars to our benefactors in our 25 year history. Unique to this hockey tournament is the expectation that each beneficiary would help to supply volunteers to run the tournament. For all of the tournaments to date, the benefactors have been greeters at each arena who welcomed, thanked, and directed the participants to each arena tournament office.
The Boys and Girls Club volunteers serve as the registration office and handles all incoming paperwork for the tournament. Thanks to Tony Gargaro and his staff for that. Gerry Menard, Jim Thomson and Steve Walker take care of the “Hockey” management of the tournament office and schedules for which we are so grateful for! Walter Gargaro takes care of the hockey program each year, Brian Hackett co-ordinates the Referees and time Keepers and Manages the Invista Rink for most of the tournament along with Rick Waller. The Napier family takes care of the Cataraqui Arenas and Fearless Fred Knapton and family the Memorial Centre. Our hotel captain is Walter Gargaro! Christine Cipolla and Paul Garforth quarterback the hockey HQ office with Mark Potter during the tournament. It takes a very dedicated team and 9 months of planning to make this tournament such a success; we are truly blessed to have such a team at Kids for Kids!
The other benefactor to the Kids for Kids hockey tournament is the local Kingston economic community. With 197 teams coming into Kingston in 2023, we will bring over 2 million dollars into the community over 3 days! We will have an information desk in the lobby of the Invista Hockey Centre from tourism Kingston for your convenience!
So, enjoy your visit here in our historic, 350 year old city, KINGSTON. On behalf of all us on the Kids for Kids hockey tournament committee, enjoy your visit with us, we hope you take home some great memories….. come back real soon ya here! |