Hockey star determined to help

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 25/07/2015 (3906 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The playoff beard may be gone just weeks after he hoisted the Stanley Cup for the third time in six seasons, but the focused look is still there.

The eyes of NHL superstar Jonathan Toews are usually focused on an opponent’s net, but this time they’re focused on a cause: feeding hungry children and youth in his hometown of Winnipeg.

Toews, the captain of the Chicago Blackhawks, has thrown his support behind the Winnipeg Foundation’s Nourishing Potential program. The four-year-old program helps local drop-in and summer programs feed healthy meals and snacks to kids who might not get them at home.

Nourishing Potential currently has an endowment fund of more than $4 million, but the foundation is hoping that with Toews’ help, they can shoot more donations into the fundraising net.

Foundation CEO Rick Frost said he hopes that with Toews’ help, the fund can grow to $5 million this summer.

It’s a cause Toews is hoping is his first step in taking his philanthropic involvements to another level. Before Nourishing Potential, Toews admits while he has helped a lot of charities — both here and in Chicago — he hasn’t been able to fully throw himself into it.

“It has mostly been lending my name and appearing at visits and playing small roles, and not really contributing more,” he said.

“Some of the other guys in the locker-room have their own foundations,” he added, referring to the Bryan and Amanda Bickell Foundation and Duncan Keith’s Keith Relief.

“I now want to see what type of work they (the charities) are doing… this is my first opportunity for me to dive into something I’m passionate about and have a true connection.”

A program with food as its focus is a natural fit for the health-conscious Toews. He grew up trying to drink milk until he found out he was lactose-intolerant. After his first season in the NHL, he found he was so out of gas in-between games he was spending most of his time lying on the couch. He was diagnosed as pre-diabetic and needed sleeping pills to sleep.

Toews said once he cut gluten out of his diet, he found he had more energy. Now Toews survives and thrives by eating healthier foods that include various salads — including one for breakfast.

“For me, this cause is something that touches so many parts of our bodies. Food is such a building foundation for life,” he said. “You don’t need to become an NHL star to be healthy.”

When Toews was a child, his parents Andree Gilbert and Bryan Toews took him to numerous hockey games and tournaments. Now, they accompany their son to several of his charitable appearances.

“We’re very proud of our son,” Gilbert said. “He’s so young and just coming into his own and supporting things he believes in now.”

Gilbert said her son helps many causes in his home city and province.

“We do a lot of small stuff here — lots — and he shows up or he sends something,” she said.

“He’s just realizing now he can do things that touch his heart. (Nourishing Potential) is completely different for him. It’s something he wants to be involved in more. It’s nice he started with his hometown.

“Sometimes he doesn’t realize the impact he has. He has no idea.”

Frost said Toews has been the perfect ambassador for the 10-week fundraising campaign for Nourishing Potential.

“He’s a very authentic person,” he said. “He’s also very genuine and very humble.

“He’s genuinely interested in kids having healthy choices. He’s genuinely interested in kids not being talked into the wrong foods. He believes it has an impact on life.

“He’s the perfect match for the Nourishing Potential program.”

But Toews doesn’t just give help and support in his hometown of Winnipeg. Playing for a hockey team in a major American city means he also does charitable work there as well. And, because his team plays in the National Hockey League, there are also league-sponsored causes he helps with.

Some of the causes Toews supports or participates in are Make-A-Wish visits, Chicago Blackhawk Charities’ annual Four Feathers Golf Invitational and Canadian Tire Jumpstart Charities. He also serves as honorary chairman of the Israel Idonije Foundation.

One of the Chicago causes Toews has a soft spot for is Misericordia. It’s a group home run by the Catholic Sisters of Mercy for 600 children and adults with physical and developmental disabilities. It not only offers speech, occupational and physical therapies, but also work at a bakery and restaurant on its 33-acre site.

Sister Rosemary Connelly, executive director of Misericordia, said Toews has helped them in fundraising efforts by donating autographed sticks, jerseys and other hockey memorabilia and has also has offered his time there.

“They auction them off at our events. We depend on private fundraising because government funding is never enough,” Connelly said. “I’m always amazed how much people are willing to bid on them. Our city is crazy about the Hawks.

“He really is a role model. There’s lots of good sports players, but they aren’t all good role models for kids.”

Connelly said when Toews came to Misericordia in 2012, he brought his parents and girlfriend. She said his girlfriend has since organized the wives of other Chicago Blackhawks players to come back and do pre-Christmas baking there.

“We are so grateful. He came with the (Stanley) Cup, and he spent several hours here. People here recognized who he was. He went to talk with the seriously disabled here, and he spoke with them and (brought) the Cup to them,” he said.

“They went crazy with glee. I’m impressed with him, and I don’t get impressed by too many people.”

Toews said he likes the way Misericordia “empowers the people they help.”

“It’s pretty amazing what they do,” he added.

Back in Winnipeg, Christine Schollenberg, executive director of the Children’s Rehabilitation Foundation, said Toews was wonderful when he came to meet with children with disabilities earlier this month, accompanied by the Stanley Cup.

“It meant a lot for them,” Schollenberg said. “Our kids are not the ones who normally get these kinds of things. They’re not the kids thought of all the time. But this is the second time he has come here. He brought the Stanley Cup here in 2010.”

Schollenberg said Toews didn’t rush through the meeting either, spending time with each child and getting a photo taken with them.

“He is so good with the children,” she said. “He was very much involved. He took the time. He was very respectful of each child’s disability.

“He’s a great role model for kids.”

Schollenberg said Toews empathizes with children with disabilities because he lived near, and was friends with, a neighbour his age who lived with a disability.

“He’s always had a special place in his heart for children with disabilities,” she said.

Toews said he will continue to do various charitable endeavours with the Blackhawks, but when he’s on his own he wants to do more with the organizations.

“My goal is to get into the organizations and speak to the people who do this work on a day-to-day basis,” he said. “If I can use my strength and talent as a hockey player to participate and help them, that’s great.”

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca