Sneakers for Childcan

Looking for that perfect gift for the sneakerhead or Mike DiPietro fan in your life? You've come to the right place.

DiPietro, the 21-year-old goaltender the Canucks drafted in the third round of the 2017 NHL Entry Draft, has a big heart and has always been involved in the communities of the teams he played for. The product of Windsor, Ontario, played for his hometown Windsor Spitfires for three-and-a-half seasons from 2015 to 2019, and early on he met a young boy named Ronny Betterley.
Ronny, who lived an hour away from Windsor in the municipality of Chatham-Kent, developed a friendship with DiPietro after meeting him post-game one night. The pair formed a special bond and would visit whenever Ronny came to watch the Spitfires play.

Their friendship became more meaningful when Ronny was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumour (diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma), which took the seven-year-old's life less than a year after he was diagnosed.
DiPietro remains in touch with the Betterley family and Ronny was on his mind this past June when Madison Young, an artist from Amhertsburg, Ontario, approached DiPietro about collaborating on a project. It didn't take much convincing to get him on board.
"She asked if I would be interested in doing a project for a charity of my choice," said DiPietro. "We talked about a few things and settled on sneaker art that represented every team I've played for."
DiPietro and Young went back and forth often about the look and feel of the shoes, which began as plain, white Nike Air Force 1s. Despite being as self-described "terrible artist," DiPietro let his creative juices flow. His ideas were then brought to life by Young,
a 17-year-old self-taught artist who has worked with graphite, watercolors, acrylic paints, color pencils and is currently focusing on color pencil and oil paints.
And sneakers.
The finished product is an absolute work of art. No matter where you look, there's another colorful detail that tells the story of DiPietro's hockey career, including all seven teams he's played for.

"They're awesome, they're so, so awesome," said DiPietro. "It was better than what I ever thought we could do. I can't draw at all, so when I saw those, I was amazed. Madison takes a lot of pride in her craft and it was really cool to see the process and how they turned out."
Once DiPietro and Young had their concept decided for the shoes, DiPietro reached out to the Betterley family about honouring Ronny. DiPietro asked what charities helped the family when they needed it the most and Childcan came to mind.
Childcan, which has supported families in southwestern and northwestern Ontario since 1974, provides financial assistance, emotional support, social programs and research funding for families faced with childhood cancer - and is supported solely by donors.
That's where you come in.
DiPietro and Young's one-of-a-kind shoes - signed by both goalie and artist -
are now available to the highest bidder.
Childcan is currently holding a
2020 Turkey Bowl
, with 100 per cent of the proceeds going to the organization, to help families in need. The DiPietro sneakers are up for auction and will be until 6 pm PT on Friday, November 27th. The current bid is $320, but they won't be that cheap for long.

"Thank you to everyone who bids, or even just takes a look at the great work Childcan does," said DiPietro. "I want to generate traffic to their website, there's 50/50 raffles and other things going on, so I'm trying to help them raise as much money as they can. I'm just trying to do something kind in a time that it seems people love to be so negative. I want to do something positive."
A heads up to anyone hoping to win the DiPietro sneakers: you've got some competition!
"When my mom saw the shoes, she said: 'Vic (my dad), we're bidding on them,'" laughed DiPietro.