ORLANDO, FLA – It might be easy to think that just because they draw a paycheck to play a kid’s game, professional athletes are not caring individuals because they do not have to be. If you think that, you probably have not met a hockey player – especially those who play for the ECHL’s Orlando Solar Bears.
Continuing a tradition started in 2012, the Solar Bears players, coaches, dancers and front office staff (and do not forget Shades the mascot) spent Monday morning giving their time to help the less fortunate in the Orlando area at the Community Food and Outreach Center’s “Hopeful Harvest” event. The event helps low income families by providing them a helping hand with putting a Thanksgiving dinner with all the trimmings on the table.
“This is our fourth year having the Solar Bears here. We’re so excited to have them back. They’ve been so generous in their volunteerism,” CFOC Executive Director Eric Gray said after assigning the Solar Bears contingent to various duties. “They aren’t here for show. They work. We put them to work and these guys are really helpful.”
One of the largest human service agencies in the state of Florida, the Community Food and Outreach Center sees about 521 people a day – many of them among the “working poor” (income at or below 200 percent of the U.S. poverty level). The multitude of services, which include an emergency food pantry and a grocery store where items cost about 1/3 as much as found in regular grocery stores, are designed to give people a helping hand instead of simply a handout.
“We are really proud to have a lot of working families that come here and are able to use our services to make ends meet a little better,” Gray said. “We like to offer a hand up as opposed to a handout so they do participate in a cost sharing program with the grocery. It makes the process of affording or just making your budget meet up as a family a little bit easier. That’s all we’re trying to do is make things a little easier for families.”
From stocking shelves to bagging groceries to handing out turkeys and bags filled with all the trimmings, the Solar Bears group spent almost three hours helping out and meeting people. Forward Lindsay Sparks said that seeing how much the people appreciate the help puts things into perspective.
“Around the holidays, you hear tons of stories like this. It’s just great to be able to help out and give back to the community that comes and supports us every night,” Sparks said. “It’s a great cause and we really enjoy doing it.”
It would have been easy for the Solar Bears team to take the day off since they had just gotten back from a five-game road trip that ended in Cincinnati, Ohio on Saturday night. Defenseman Zach Bell, who not too long ago was on a call-up to the AHL Toronto Marlies, said that being a good community partner is just as important as what happens on the ice.
“We’re always happy to be a part of anything helping out with the community. It’s so easy for us to come and put a smile on [people’s faces],” Bell said. “We go to the rink every day and that’s kind of our job. We’re entertainers. These people are struggling to make ends meet. We’re happy to help them out. Any time the Orlando community needs us, we try to jump all over it.”
Monday’s event was also a first for head coach Anthony Noreen, who is used to teaching junior hockey players to be good community members. He was impressed with what the Community Food and Outreach Center does for the community and sees working with them as a way to make his players appreciate what they have.
“It is an organization that we certainly want to be behind. We love what they stand for,” Noreen said. “I think it is an opportunity to give back. I think just as importantly it is an opportunity to open our guys’ eyes up a little bit to the struggles of the real world. I think sometimes they might think it is hard to get up and practice on a Monday morning but it’s a lot harder to get up and maybe not have the means to feed your family on a Monday morning. Our guys got it pretty good and I think sometimes to let them see the other side of things is beneficial for us but also an opportunity to us to help out and give back to our community.”
Contact the author at don.money@prohockeynews.com
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