Jean Longfield, who helped launch the Gift of Giving Back charity more than 20 years ago, poses for a photo in the Feed Halton food bank, in Burlington, Ont., on Oct. 23.Christopher Katsarov /The Globe and Mail
The organizer: Jean Longfield
The pitch: Creating the Gift of Giving Back
The reason: To teach children about philanthropy and support several charities
Jean Longfield wanted her son to experience more than sports when he joined the Burlington Eagles hockey team at the age of nine.
Ms. Longfield watched the boys pick out new hockey sticks, skates and other equipment and she thought about the less fortunate children in the community who didn’t have the same opportunities. So with the help of a couple of other parents, she got the team together and sent the boys out into the neighbourhood, having them go door-to-door asking for donations to the local food bank. They quickly filled up a couple of wagons and some hockey bags.
“The kids loved it. It was a highlight in their year,” Ms. Longfield, 74, recalled from her home in Burlington, Ont.
That outing led her to launch the Gift of Giving Back charity in 2005. Over the years, the food drive has expanded to several dozen hockey teams in Burlington and neighbouring Oakville. They all collect food and financial contributions for 10 organizations, including the Burlington Food Bank, Salvation Army, Kerr Street Mission and Halton Women’s Place.
Every spring as the teams are selected, each captain is tasked with organizing players for the food drive, which kicks off in the fall. The donations are stored in the gymnasium of a high school that also joins the drive. Last year, the players and students collected $1-million worth of food and money.
“Once we put the structure in place, the kids really, really embraced it,” Ms. Longfield said.
She added that the charity is about more than food drives. “Our whole goal in this was to make our kids kinder and more compassionate and to know about the vulnerable people in the community, and about kids growing up in families where they need help,” she said.
Ms. Longfield hopes hockey teams across the country will consider organizing a similar charity. “We’ve always known that kids can be extremely powerful change makers in a community, because we’ve always seen it. If you give them the guidance, the structure, the encouragement and the tools, they’ll take that and they’ll run with it.”