The teachers and RCMP officers may have had the last laugh at the Bert Church Classic, but it was the organizing group and charity that will benefit the most.
The Bert Church Classic charity hockey game, held April 8 at the Ron Ebbesen Arena, saw the teachers and RCMP members beat the students 12-6. But with more than 250 tickets sold, Students For Change raised more than $1,200 for Free The Children organization and its efforts towards building a school in Sierra Leone.
“We’re extremely happy with it and just couldn’t be more grateful to all of our sponsors, all the people who showed up and everyone involved,” said Grade 12 and organizer Derek Harasiuk.
“We haven’t counted the exact money yet, but with our ticket sales, silent auction and other bakes sales we’ve done, we’ve raised about $1,200. Generally, it’s a smaller number, but for a high school you’d have to say it’s pretty successful.”
Harasiuk said he wasn’t sure the event would prove successful, but is happy that the community embraced the idea and showed its support.
“We were expecting about 100 people, so it definitely exceeded our goal,” he said. “It was kind of relieving that it became a major success. Teachers and students are still talking about it. We have a trophy for the winning team and the teachers have been taking it classroom to classroom. There’s a friendly rivalry still going on between the two teams.”
There are no confirmed plans for Students For Change to host the game again next year, but Harasiuk hopes it will continue in some capacity.
“This is my last year, but I’m thinking they’ll probably do a Bert Church Classic again next year for whatever charity they choose to do,” he said.
Students For Change is also organizing a charity concert, to continue support for Free The Children, for some time after the Easter break.
