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The Steinbach Minor Hockey Association recently held the Steinbach Minor Hockey Raffle. 3076 raffle tickets were sold, successfully raising $60,000 to cover the registration fees of their members.
Raffle prizes included:
1st place - $5000.00 cash (Winner- Jess Loewen)
2nd place - $2500.00 cash (Winner- Karen & Wesley Fontaine)
3rd place - $1000.00 gift card to Harvest Honda (Winner- Savannah Neudstadter
30 additional $250 cash prizes and gift card to local businesses
Early bird: 2 Winnipeg Jets tickets
First place winner Jesse Loewen purchased tickets because minor hockey had always been a large part of his family life, and believed this raffle was a good way to support it.
“I was completely surprised,” says Loewen. “I’ve never really won anything in my life! Not sure yet on what we will do with the winnings.”
Ryan Canada is on the SMHA board, and shares that the fundraiser was a great success.
“It’s an exciting time for minor hockey,” he says. “Minor hockey is a big part of the community- kids get to come out, make friends, play hockey, learn a skill. It’s just an exciting time.”
Canada emphasizes that all the funds raised have been put towards registration costs.
“If the kids fundraised and sold all the tickets that they were given, their registration was free!”
As both a board member and a parent, he notes that it’s been a great opportunity to support the players and also the community.
When Hagen Kosmolak from Harvest Honda heard the opportunity SMHA was providing for their players, they knew they wanted to participate by donating some cash and prizes to the draw. "We thought it was a good thing to get behind, making hockey more affordable is a great idea."
SMHA would like to thank the following community supporters and sponsors:
- A&W
- Alpha Hockey
- Boston Pizza
- Canadian Tire
- Clearview Co-op
- Covello Financial
- Double R Farms
- Fairway Ford
- Frank Rempel
- Funk's Toyota
- Harvest Honda
- IDC/Cell Mechanics
- Keith Unger Realty
- Ledingham GM
- Loewen Windows
- McDonald's
- Penn-Co
- Premier Trucks
- Smitty's
- Sobeys
- Source for Sports
- Super Splash
- True North Sports
- Westland Insurance
The early bird winner of the fundraising raffle was drawn on September 26, 2024, and Braeden Martens was the lucky winner of a pair of Jets tickets valued at $500. Martens was prompted to buy a raffle ticket by a friend, whose child was going into hockey for the first time in a couple years.
“I wanted to show support for them, so I pitched him a couple bills,” Martens notes casually.
As the head coach of the Steinbach Regional Secondary School football program, Martens is quick to acknowledge the value of physical activity, especially in young children.
“Anytime you can take a little kid who has got a lot of energy and put them in sports, I think everybody wins. Obviously, I’m very passionate about sports, and I think this is such a worthy endeavour.”
Martens joins the ranks of dozens of parents across the southeast who can now approach the upcoming hockey season with a little less financial stress.
“It went really well,” says SMHA parent Tatjana Iwanow. “We sold all of our tickets for both boys, so that’s both registrations paid in full, which is amazing. It’s a huge blessing. We sold all of our tickets pretty much in our neighborhood- the kids when door to door, and the neighbors were super supportive. It was a great success, and we met so many new neighbours through this, as people invited us in to talk. Turns out so many people have a background in hockey!”
With two children already playing and one more waiting her turn, Iwanow is hugely grateful for this fundraising opportunity.
“Knowing that the cost is covered, it takes such a pressure off,” says Iwanow. “There’s still other costs that come, like equipment, and traveling, and tournaments. But having the registration paid in full, it makes a big difference. It’s awesome.”
SMHA players and members are all looking forward to hitting the ice, especially at the brand-new Southeast Event Centre, slated to open in the new year.
For more information about the Steinbach Minor Hockey Association, visit their website.