A charity hockey game will take place this Sunday afternoon at 1 at the Cariboo Memorial Recreation Complex.
The second annual Guns n Hoses event, in support of Williams Lake Kids Sport, will have members of the RCMP facing off against members of the Fire Department.
Officer Fraser Bjornson who is one of the organizers said Kids Sport is a National Organization with a local aspect to it.
“We have a local Chapter right here in Williams Lake that helps kids who have the financial need to get into sports and I have been with them for four years now. A buddy of mine from the detachment we ended up doing a bit of a fundraiser for Kids Sport, found out about it online and reached out to the Chairperson, Rick Miller, and we ended up getting involved with it ever since and it’s been a lot of fun.”
Bjornson also explained how this First Responders Charity game came to be.
“Ever since COVID we ended up getting a decent amount of funding from the provincial and federal government for Kids Sport but some of that has dried up in the years since so all the monies raised that goes to our local kids a lot of it comes from local sponsorship and local fundraisers. So we were in need of a fundraiser that would make some those funds back and help to support local kids in our community. It was super successful last year with over 650 fans at the rink and we’re hoping to keep that going.”
Bjornson noted that sports is so important, it gets their confidence going, gets them out and involved, and I think everybody should be able to play sports.
“Apparently the stats in Canada are one in two kids has trouble playing sports just due to financial barriers. If Kids Sport can help lift those financial barriers by paying for registration I think it’s a really good cause. We cover quite a wide range from soccer to hockey to gymnastics, archery, to name a few.”
Bjornson added that they have quite a few volunteers to help out Sunday during the game at the door selling tickets, a puck toss where fans can win prizes that were donated by local community sponsors as well as a fifty-fifty draw.
“Myself and our local Kids Sport committee have been working on planning this charity game right from August through September and right up until now. That includes some pre event things that we had at Mustangs games, Stampeders games, Fresh Co and Save on Foods, a lot of people bought tickets there and are ready for Sunday.”
Tickets for the Guns n Hoses game are available at Cycle Logic and the Williams Lake RCMP Detachment and at the door.
“And if you search admit one online, type in Williams Lake in the search bar, you’re going to see our event which is the Williams Lake Kids Sport Guns n Hoses,” Bjornson said.
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