Dozens of Yukon hockey players will skate in new gear this season thanks to the generosity of a Vancouver teenager, and the Vancouver Canucks.
That teenager is Cameron Lee.
He is the founder of Sports for Support, a non-profit that helps get sports gear into the hands of those who can’t afford it.
Lee was working part-time at a hockey store in Vancouver when the idea for Sports for Support began percolating.
Just 14 at the time, Lee was dumbfounded at the amount of used gear people were willing to just drop off or throw in the dump.
“I just saw the vast amount of used second-hand hockey equipment that would come through the doors and customers would ask to dispose,” said Lee. “Sports is a super important vehicle to navigate through challenges, so it seemed like such a missed opportunity.”
I was blown away. – Stacey Carefoot, Whitehorse Minor Hockey Association
Lee was also motivated by his own experience with sport.
When he was eight he had health issues and multiple kidney surgeries.
“I used sports to navigate through those challenges and I saw what sports can do,” said Lee.
Soon after, Lee’s non-profit was created.
Lee was recently in Whitehorse, bringing with him 500 pieces of brand new equipment.
“I was blown away,” said Stacey Carefoot, executive director of the Whitehorse Minor Hockey Association. “It’s absolutely priceless because some of our players have never experienced hitting the ice in brand new gear.”
Stacey Carefoot of the Whitehorse Minor Hockey Association says the donated gear will now be dispersed throughout the territory where the need is greatest. (George Maratos/CBC)
This wasn’t just any gear. The skates, sticks, shoulder pads and helmets were donated by the Vancouver Canucks.
Lee decided to give the gear to Yukon players after learning of the need in the territory.
In 2021, he was asked to play for a Whitehorse team that was travelling to Vancouver for a tournament.
“I learned that up north in remote communities equipment is often more scarce, new equipment most certainly is,” said Lee. “That’s how I was connected to the Yukon.”
For Cameron’s dad, Matthew, seeing his son start his own non-profit and have it benefit so many people has been special.
“As a parent you always want your kids to strive and be good community advocates, ” he said. “For Cameron’s mom and I, it’s been a nice journey to see where he started and how he’s been able to grow this organically.”
Cameron and his dad Matthew. (George Maratos/CBC)
Now that the equipment is in the territory it will be divided up and sent to communities like Dawson City, Teslin and Carmacks through Sport Yukon’s Kids Recreation Fund, Carefoot said. That fund was created to help make sports accessible for all youth.
“Wherever the need is, the equipment will go,” Carefoot said.