The Abbotsford Heat Foundation handed out nearly $40,000 in grants to 13 community groups in a ceremony on Monday afternoon.
The American Hockey League team’s charity initiative raised the funds for the grants primarily through operation of their annual golf tournament and a $25,000 donation by the Calgary Flames, their NHL parent club.
The foundation’s pillars are improving children and youth’s health/wellness, education and fitness, development of amateur and grassroots sports, and repressing risk-related behaviour such as drug use, gang involvement and crime.
Grant recipients included PacificSport, Abbotsford Community Services, Abbotsford Restorative Justice and Advocacy Association, Ann Davis Transition Society, Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Fraser Valley, Cyrus Centre, Fraser Valley Autism Society, Fraser Valley Brain Injury Association, Fraser Valley Child Development Centre, Youth Unlimited, Matthew’s House, Rope Skipping Canada, and the Royal Canadian Air Cadets.
In addition, the Heat Foundation also supported several local organizations through its 50/50 draws, totalling $85,000 raised in the 2011-12 season.