CORNWALL, Ontario – Fans of the Cornwall Nationals came out in support of Warm-Up Cornwall this Sat. Jan. 28.
The initiative seeks to make sure that nobody in Cornwall is left in the cold this winter. Fans were encouraged to bring a bag of winter gear (hats, scarves, mittens), throwing their donation onto the ice after the Nationals’ first goal.
Scoring the Warm-Up Cornwall goal 4:38 into the first was Maxime Guyon. Fans littered the ice with bags of warm clothing, which will be dispersed throughout the city for people to take as they need.
Kris McCarthy, who is the team’s Sales and Marketing Director, says that the partnership came about fairly recently.
“It’s funny, I actually had a splint for my finger when I met them in the park,” said McCarthey. “I couldn’t fit my hand in a glove or a mitt, so Chantal knitted me a nub to keep my hand warm.”
Charity founder, Chantal Gilmour mentioned the initiative to McCarthey, who decided to promote it at one of the team’s upcoming games.
With the vision of something similar to a teddy bear toss, they began planning and promoting the event. “I was really happy with the result,” said McCarthey.”
“I think we had somewhere between 70 and 100 bags, so that’s another 200 articles of clothing for the charity,” said Kris McCarthy. “It really helps people who are either homeless or don’t have access to warm clothing.”
It’s a big win for the Nationals, too. McCarthy says that it’s important that the community knows they are Cornwall’s team, and they’re working hard at proving that through continued charitable endeavours.
“Every team needs to be doing this in any professional league,” said McCarthy.
There were 752 fans in attendance at Saturday’s game.
