A lot of things take hits during lockouts. Players and owners lose a lot of money, but they can handle those losses. More severe hurt is doled out to arena workers who are laid off, and team employees who have to do the same amount of work on trimmed schedules.
What’s never talked about though, is team driven charity organizations. As great as the game is, there are some things that making a lot of money allows teams to do that transcend the game, and the Montreal Canadiens Children’s Foundation is one of those things.
While fans are annoyed that we’re deprived of our favourite hobby, and some of our livelihoods are affected (ahem), it’s important to remember that it’s just a game to us.
The Canadiens Children’s Foundation makes a large chunk of its donations from the 41 home games the Montreal Canadiens play at the Bell Centre. Thus far 12 of those 41 games have been canceled by the NHL, (nearly 30%) which represents a huge sum of money that is no longer going to the kids helped by the Foundation.
Since it was established before the 2000-01 season, the Foundation has raised approximately $13.5M towards 450 charitable endeavours all around Quebec. The newest venture is a brand new community skating rink near me in NDG, where underprivileged children can borrow equipment and skate on the ice, enjoying and learning the sport we all love, among others like ringette and figure skating. This initiative will be the 5th rink of it’s kind.
Frequent commenter on EOTP JD_ for several years now has combined his passion for Halloween and horror with an effort to benefit the local charity by hosting a drive at his incredibly decorated haunt in Kirkland. You can see this year’s edition here.
Cash donations are accepted in person, but Hurricane Sandy threatens to ruin Halloween for the East coast this year. Instead, you can make a $5 donation by texting “Habs” to 45678. The Montreal Canadiens Children’s Foundation is an important part of what makes the Montreal Canadiens great, let’s make sure they can do as much this year as they have every year of their existence.