Calgary car dealership overwhelmed by #PutYourStickOut response
Posted Apr 11, 2018 2:45 pm.
Last Updated Apr 11, 2018 2:49 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Hundreds of hockey sticks are surrounding a car dealership in southeast Calgary.
Earlier this week, Jack Carter Chevrolet Cadillac began taking part in the viral social media campaign #PutYourStickOut to honour those affected by the Humboldt Broncos bus tragedy. When staff left for the night on Monday, they were stunned to see just how many sticks had accumulated when they returned.
“There were already about 40 sticks and then the rest of the day, it was just incredible, as people kept stopping by and dropping off sticks,” managing partner Jay McKeen explained. “Some of them were bringing them in ones and twos, others in dozens, because they had a group that had gotten together and collected them. It got to a point where it was incredible what was going on. It has really overwhelmed us.”
And what is most poignant to McKeen is how Calgarians are delivering the sticks.
“They aren’t just dropping them off,” he said. “They are placing them with reverence along the side of our building, and it’s heartwarming to watch that. You traditionally see that with flowers, how they are placed on a memorial. In this case, the stick is taking the place of the flowers. It genuinely means something to these people, to be able to place that stick there.”
The sticks dropped off at the dealership that can still be used will be given to sports equipment banks, youth groups, camps, and foundations that support hockey internationally in non-traditional areas.
“They will be able to play with those sticks, and hopefully remember those Humboldt players, coaches and trainers,” McKeen said.
Jack Carter Chevrolet Cadillac has already donated $55,000 to the Humboldt Go Fund Me page.
