GRAND COULEE, Sask. - People in Ontario, Alberta and elsewhere are coming to the aid of a Saskatchewan minor hockey team whose recent fundraising bottle drive was put offside by a thief.
Players with the Grand Coulee Bulldogs, just west of Regina, went door-to-door with their parents last Thursday morning in search of bottles and cans, with the goal of raising funds to help drive down the cost of hockey fees.
Mayor Wally Botkin says following an afternoon of sorting, the team figured it had about $4,000 worth of material that was loaded into a trailer, then stored out of site.
Botkin says when the parents went to take the valuable cargo to a recycler, they discovered it had been stolen by someone he believes had probably seen the bottle drive happening, came across the trailer and took it.
He says hockey associations and individuals far and wide have responded to the team's plight by offering to do their own bottle drives to supplement the Bulldogs' costs.
The mayor says it's an important lesson for the players: that while there are bad people in the world, there are more good people willing to help those in need.
Botkin also said the theft won't keep the kids from playing.
"Hockey is an expensive sport to play and doing this extra work and getting the kids involved (generated) the satisfaction of 'You worked for your own hockey fees,' '' he said.
“The response has been tremendous." (CJME)