Feb 17, 2015 | jmugford | 1594 views
A Big Community Thank you from the Minor Bantam A team, on behalf of Marcus Baksh and family!
Words cannot describe the overwhelming feelings of gratitude and appreciation as we saw a community come together in support of a friend, a team mate and a family member. Marcus Baksh is a young teenager, living his passion through hockey who, just a week ago, received news that has changed his life, taking his battle off the ice, and having to face a tough new opponent. We know however, Marcus is up to the fight, and will win; we also know that the entire community is there to support him.
Last week the Minor Bantam A team had asked what they could do to help support Marcus, which started out as a family skate on Valentines Day with some fundraising ideas, and grew to an event of epic proportions. This was a successful event that saw thousands of supporters come through the doors at Rickards, participating in the family skate and contributing where they could. Currently we know that 20G has been raised however some further collection of payment of silent auction items and calculation of donations need to occur so it is estimated that approximately 30G will be made. We will advise you of the final total once available.
This event was successful as a result of the contributions of many parts of our community, and for that we are grateful and thank you:
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The Clarington Minor Hockey Association for making this possible, helping to secure facilities, supporting the cause by helping to canvas the community, and providing executive support through the planning and execution of the event.
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The Clarington Toros teams for their support, well wishes, donations to the event as well as assistance and participation during the event.
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The Town of Clarington and the Arena staff for providing assistance, helping to secure facilities and working with us during the planning.
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All community members as well as corporations within Clarington and surrounding areas that have given incredible support and participated in the event.
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Clarington Emergency and Fire Department and Boston Pizza for supporting and having mascot Sparky and mascot Lionel attend the event.
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Clarington Girls Hockey Association for donating ice to help with the family skate and their assistance during the event.
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The Clarington Hockey Associations, including the Clarington Recreational Hockey League and the Clarington Zone for their words of support, contributions and participation in the family skate.
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The Clarington Eagles Hockey Association for participating in the family skate and representing our proud sport!
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The Lakeshore Hockey League and all the affiliated teams for their support and participation during the event.
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OMHA for the donation of the shooting game, and coverage of the event.
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Action Promotions who made up T-Shirts to support the cause, and is donating proceeds to the #MarcusStrong event.
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Everyone and Anyone, including people and corporations that have donated gifts for the events.
This event also brought some unique individual stories around support and philanthropy (please note, we may not have captured all, but this does show how different types of support create a community of caring)
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A family from AJAX had driven to one of the homes in courtice to drop off gifts for the event. They did not have anyone at that age playing, but were compelled by the story and wanted to participate.
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The girls at the snack bar at Rickards on Saturday decided (on their own) to dedicate their tip fund to the event, and donate when it was over.
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A young boy came in with some money in a sandwich bag indicating these were the proceeds from his paper route, and he wanted to donate to Marcus.
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A young boy came in with his savings from both Christmas and Birthdays to donate to Marcus.
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Many of the Toros teams, and hockey teams from Uxbridge, Quinte, Oshawa, Cobourg, Ajax, Whitby, Clarington Flames, Clarington Thunder came to participate in the event and show support for a fellow hockey player. We have also received salutes, donations and support from Kingston, Napanee, Pickering and Port Perry. Oshawa Kicks was also out in a show of support.
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A local community church approached us asking how they could help, and where they could donate proceeds as they collect from their members.
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Many teams from the hockey community at large have pulled resources and donated money to support Marcus
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Many families continue to show support through the donation of food, offers for rides, etc
It has often been said, “an individual’s contribution is impactful, and a communities contribution is a message; a message of support, a message of encouragement, a message that we will stand together and support a family member in need!” That is EXACTLY what our Community continues to do for the BAKSH family!
Thank you!
Clarington Toros Minor Bantam A team!