Hockey Helps Kids, the philanthropic initiative of Chloe and Harrison Katz, children of Edmonton Oilers owner Daryl Katz and his wife Renee, is a fun and innovative competition, which brings together local schools, charities and the Edmonton Oilers to raise awareness and funds for the community. The program helps strengthen the relationship between the National Hockey League (NHL), communities, fans and most importantly, helps junior high school students understand the importance of giving back to their community and making it a better place.
Hockey Helps Kids provides junior high school students in Grades 7 to 9 the opportunity to learn about the importance of being active and positive members of their community. Hockey Helps Kids complements each schools' leadership curriculum, encouraging students to grow alongside the program while raising awareness and funds for local charities.
Building off four years of success, the fifth season of Hockey Helps Kids is looking ahead for yet another year of significant growth and momentum in the Edmonton Community. The following school boards are eligible to apply:
Interested schools are asked to complete an application form and submit by Friday, April 26, 2019. Shortlisted schools will be asked to prepare a 15-minute presentation to present to a selection committee on why their school should be chosen. Successful schools will be notified in June.
"Throughout the process, Hockey Help Kids has brought our school together to understand that we can make a difference in our community no matter how small we are," said Guy Bultin, Educational Assistant at Ecole Dickinsfield School (2018-19 Hockey Helps Kids School). "Through research, doing interviews and volunteering, our students have learned so much and have come to understand how fortunate we are to have the opportunity to give back in the way we are. As staff and students we would like to say thank you to Hockey Helps Kids."
Participating students will engage in research, interviews and data collection to select their charity. Each school and its chosen charity will team up with an Edmonton Oilers player who will serve as their Team Captain. Then, they will be tasked with developing a two-minute video to promote their charity and drive votes and awareness, with the goal of achieving the most votes during a designated period. The winning charity will receive $25,000 and the runner-ups will each receive a $10,000 donation. Each participating school is also granted $5,000 for their efforts.
Oilers Assistant Captain, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins completed the three-peat last season, as Hockey Helps Kids Charity Cup Champion with Sister Annata Brockman School, winning $25,000 for Autism Edmonton. The money will be put towards
Occasio-Social Respite Program
, an initiative to provide youth and young adults on the autism spectrum with opportunities to be socially active as empowered individual citizens living as part of their community.
Team Captains for the upcoming Hockey Helps Kids Charity Cup Challenge will be announced prior to the start of the 2019-20 Oilers season.
For more information or to submit an application on behalf of your school for Hockey Helps Kids, please visit
HockeyHelpsKids.com
.
