Akil Thomas Raising Money to Give Orphans in Ghana a Christmas

Just days away from the start of the World Junior Championships, you might assume that Akil Thomas' name would be mentioned. And you're right, last year's golden-goal scorer for Team Canada is again in the news for his outstanding work.
This time though, it comes off the ice. Akil and his mother Akilah Love Thomas are working together to raise money for 193 impoverished orphans in Jamestown, Accra, Ghana.

Akilah first became aware of the 193 orphans when they and 5,000 other Ghanan's were abruptly displaced from their homes. She became the co-founder of a non-profit organization called DNA Brand who is spearheading this fundraising campaign. The DNA Brand's mission and goal is to "Break down barriers and negative influences of society… With the goal to give back and facilitate ways for others to gain opportunities which they would normally not have access to, due to social and/or financial status."
With his mother involved, Akil too became deeply connected to the cause after receiving a congratulatory video after his game-winning goal in last year's gold medal game against Russia at the WJC. After receiving that, all Thomas wanted to do was help.
"My mom was saying they really want to raise money to give them their first Christmas dinner and potentially a gift or something like that. I didn't think it would take off the way it's taken off so far, but we're definitely making a massive impact on the children, so I'm pretty happy about it."

But that's not all Akil and Akilah hope to accomplish with the money raised. Beyond the Christmas dinner, with a larger goal of $100,000, they hope to be able to purchase land, build an orphanage, build a school and provide farmland to sustain the production of their own food for consumption and sale.
"I just want to do my part and try to give them as much resources as possible to live as normal as a human being as possible given their circumstances," Thomas explained.
With already over $10,000 raised, even NHLers Evander Kane of the San Jose Sharks and Sam Gagner of the Detroit Red Wings have donated to the cause in support of Thomas and his efforts.
"I didn't expect that to happen. I probably was going to be pumped if we even raised $1,000 altogether. It's so crazy," said Thomas.
To donate to the cause or learn more about the GoFundMe campaign, visit
here
. Learn more about the DNA Brand and it's work
here
.