This year, as part of the Canada Life Cup, HHTH and Canada Life created the "Your Community's #CanadaLifeCupChamp" program. A #CanadaLifeCupChamp is someone who exhibits Game Changing efforts for the homeless in the community made through fundraising, awareness, leadership, volunteerism, and more.
During the month of February, Community members and charity partners were offered the chance to nominate someone who goes above and beyond to give back in their community. The Top 3 game changing Champs were chosen based on the detail and story from the nomination and were judged by a panel from HHTH. Based on their rank, the winning Champs will receive $2,000, $3,000 or $5,000 to donate back to their selected HHTH charity(s).
The team at Hockey Helps the Homeless and Canada Life are so amazed by the number of passionate nominations we’ve received. This is the first time we’ve ever hosted an initiative like this, and the stories that were shown just reinvigorates us to continue our mission to help every Canadian find a safe place to call home and have the supports needed to thrive. It was almost impossible to choose a Top 3, and although all nominees are a #CanadaLifeCupChamp, our Top Champs have been selected.
3rd Place: Wasim Jarrah
Wasim’s story touched our panel as he is a true Community Champion who is involved with multiple creative and diverse initiatives to reduce poverty throughout York Region. Wasim exhibited changing efforts by helping local foodbanks with their food drives, funding a scholarship for high school students, funding and facilitating donations to spread awareness of the homelessness cause through podcasts and idea generation, and by volunteering with multiple charities to help those who are homeless or at-risk.
Wasim Jarrah was nominated by Michael Braithwaite from Blue Door Shelters. He will be allocating his $2,000 donation towards Blue Door Shelters.
2nd Place: Gord Keep & Pat Robinson
Between these two amazing nominations from Vancouver, the panel simply could not decide so they decided to call it a tie. Without these two incredible champions (who are also on the local organizing committee), HHTH would not provide the impact that we do locally in Vancouver.
Gord Keep has been on the committee since year 2 and has been the Top Fundraiser across Canada for the past 12 years. To date, he has rallied his network to raise over $540,000 through personal fundraising alone, and this does not account for the additional sponsors he has introduced to HHTH. He is a dedicated committee member that helps bring a different perspective to the team and has driven change, innovation, and competition to a different level.
Pat Robinson has been the number 2 Top Fundraiser across Canada annually. His dedication to the homelessness cause, especially recovery programs, has led him to be one of the most passionate members of the Vancouver committee. He is able to connect to many, from corporate heads, to outreach partners, and even to NHL superstars like the Sedin twins who played in the last tournament. He is instrumental to the success of the HHTH team and is definitely a #CanadaLifeCupChamp.
Gord Keep was nominated by Ewan French and Pat Robinson was nominated by Lucas Riedl. Gord and Pat will each donate their $1,500 donation towards the total HHTH Vancouver fund.
1st Place: Rob Way
When letting one of our beneficiaries know that their nomination received first place, it was almost of no surprise to her. As chair of the Waterloo Region Tournament, Rob Way leads by example and inspires his members to go above and beyond to support those who need it most. He is always thinking of new ways to fundraise while encouraging a better tournament experience and maximizing exposure for HHTH and the charity partners. He is continuously acquiring new sponsors and connections and adding new and creative opportunities such as the pennant sponsorship which has been adopted across the country. This year as we were forced to move to our modified event, the Canada Life Cup, Rob, with the support of his partners at Swiftspace Inc., pledged a company match of $100,000 in order to secure the success of the 2021 event. This was both an extraordinary amount and gesture, but did it so humbly and with little fanfare. It was just one more sign of his incredible commitment to HHTH and the most vulnerable in our community.
On top of what he already contributes to HHTH, he continues to be selfless and is involved with multiple initiatives and volunteering opportunities. When COVID struck and the homeless had lost their shelter and were relocated to a local hotel, Rob and his wife, Michele, would buy and personally deliver meals to the shelter support staff. During the holidays, you can find Rob and his family creating crafts with special needs children at the Oh Christmas Free event. These are only but a few of the many stories of his complete dedication to bettering his community.
Rob is a continuous inspiration to our team and a shining beacon of what it is to be a Canada Life Cup Champ.
Rob Way was nominated by Elizabeth Clarke from YW K-W. He will be splitting his $5,000 donation equally amongst the HHTH Waterloo Region partner beneficiaries.
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We received dozens of nominations and while they may have not won this time, they are still Canada Life Cup Champs to us. Thank you all for your time and generosity to your community. We’d like to give a few honourable mentions (in no particular order):
Chip Allan – Chip, one of the HHTH London Co-Chairs, first joined the HHTH team more than 10 years ago through his fundraising in support of the Montreal event. It was coincidental that HHTH planned to expand to London, and we are so grateful for Chip wanting to get involved. Not only does Chip fundraise for HHTH, he has built the committee from the ground up, is an avid community advocate and speaker, and is completely dedicated to the homelessness cause. Chip was nominated by Robert Kayser.
Wayne Dunn – Wayne’s story resonated with the panel as he showed us what true dedication is. Since the pandemic began, he has stepped up his volunteering role at the Busby Centre in Barrie to 7 days a week for several months to ensure that meals are prepared, packaged, and delivered to the hotel for clients. After the shelter gained more stability, Wayne continues to spend countless hours preparing meals, assisting with donations, fundraising, and helping anywhere needed. Wayne was nominated by Candace Gordon from the Busby Centre.
Dexter Ronak – One of our youngest nominees, Dexter is truly an inspiration that showed us that you are never too young to be a passionate leader in the community dedicated to shutting out homelessness. He has supported Inn from the Cold for many years by organizing fundraisers, volunteering for events, and donates during the Inn’s biggest annual fundraiser: Claire’s Campaign. Dexter has raised an impressive $10,000 thus far. Dexter was nominated by Megan Williams from Inn from the Cold.
Aidan Walsh – Aidan has been involved with hockey fundraisers across Alberta for the past 12 years. He has consistently been at the top of the HHTH leaderboard and raises tens of thousands of dollars locally. He is also on the HHTH Calgary Organizing Committee and is a passionate volunteer that works to raise awareness for the cause. Aidan was nominated by Tim McGowan from Inn From the Cold.
Sonny Dhillon – Sonny’s nomination presented us an amazing story of how sport and philanthropy can come together to make a true change in the community. Sonny has organized fun, soccer, volleyball and dodgeball tournaments whereby the kids participating have to register and “pay” for their fees through the donation of non-perishable food items that would be donated to 360°kids. In the history of events, Sonny and his family and friends have collected and donated well over 45,000 lbs. of food to 360°kids and other community groups as well including the Richmond Hill Food Bank. Sonny was nominated by Lesley Sims from 360°kids.
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Thank you to all of those who nominated or were a nominee. We’d like to acknowledge every nomination that we received as we appreciated every single one of them.
- Swiftspace Inc. nominated by Craig Herner
- Lynn Mercer, Coral Lukaniuk, Prempreet Brar, and Gail McKinnon nominated by Nolan Curcio, Inn from the Cold
- Laura Cusack nominated by Dennis Hristovski
- Mike Hendricks nominated by Mike Hendricks
- Raelene Robertson nominated by Pam Hadder, Willow Place Inc.
- Linda Lane Devlin nominated by Matthew Kalenuik, Last Door
- Amanda Staller nominated by Giuseppe Ganci
- Branden Mosher nominated by Don Murray
- Giuseppe Gance and Linda Lane Devlin nominated by Susan Hogarth, New Westminster
- Nicko Machado nominated by Brooklyn Hubbard, New Westminster
- Sive Pausey on behalf of Queen’s Project on International Development (QPID) nominated by Ruth Woodman
- Glenn Michalchuk nominated by Breda Vosters
- Scott Jones nominated by Sarah Jones
- Chuck Puchmayr nominated by Wes Everaars, Lookout Society
- Ryan McPhail nominated by Sara Peddle, Busby Centre
- Ewan French nominated by Eli Breen
- Nathan Barnes nominated by Janel Perron
- Don Murray nominated by Branden Mosher
To get involved, text 'HOCKEY' to 20222 or visit CLC21.ca to donate.
This initiative was made possible thanks to the generosity of Canada Life as part of their Goal-for-Goal Challenge program. The donations will be received at the end of the fundraising campaign or June 30, 2021 and will be transferred from HHTH to the partner(s) and added to their total donation amount. The donation will not appear on the individual’s fundraising page and will not receive a tax receipt. These initiatives (Canada Life’s Matching Gifts, Your Community’s #CanadaLifeCupChamp, and The Buzzer Beater Sprint) are only made possible if Hockey Helps the Homeless (HHTH) reaches Canada Life’s Goal-For-Goal Challenge by June 30, 2021. If HHTH does not reach this goal, the initiatives will not be executed.
