GoFundMe for Broncos families raises $4M
The fundraising efforts for those affected by the Humboldt Broncos bus crash and their families was set up simply enough.
A GoFundMe giving page established late Friday night originally was seeking a goal in the tens of thousands of dollars.
That was before anyone knew the breadth of the tragedy.
By Sunday afternoon the total raised was set to surpass $4 million after donations by nearly 60,000 individuals and businesses around the globe.
“We will be ensuring the process of how those dollars go out … we’re going to make sure that’s done first and foremost respecting every one of the families who have been part of this tragedy,” Broncos president Kevin Garinger said.
The largest single donation was made by Gary and Marg MacDonald who offered $25,000. Bauer Hockey and Husky Energy each gave $15,000. Crescent Point Energy and Rogers gave $10,000 each.
NHL teams came through quickly with several large donations: $20,000 from the Pittsburgh Penguins, $10,000 from each of the Calgary Flames and Toronto Maple Leafs. The Leafs and the Chicago Blackhawks alumni associations also put up large donations.
Dion Phaneuf, an Edmonton native and member of the Los Angeles Kings who also played in Calgary, Toronto and Ottawa, donated $10,000. Other NHL stars past and present like Drew Doughty and Shawn Horcoff donated as did Saskatchewan-born pros Tyler Bozak and Brayden Schenn.
But those big donations made up only a fraction of the total Garinger called “staggering.”
There were also donations like those from the Saskatoon Bobcats Peewee B Canucks hockey team that gave the $3,704 it had left over from fundraising efforts.
Normally the money would have been split between the families of Canucks players, but head coach Michael Mourre said it was an easy choice to change things up.
The Bobcat Canucks played a tournament in Humboldt earlier this year and the SJHL team played immediately after them one night. Mourre said the simple act of how the players stacked their dress shoes outside the lockerroom showed the team’s professionalism. He marvelled at how players on younger Broncos teams looked up to the junior A club.
“Coming out of the rink I think someone said Humboldt has a real little hockey factory,” said Mourre. “But when you look at it, it’s not a factory, it’s a family.”
Other teams across Canada came up big as well. The Vancouver T-Birds atom team donated $3,300 and the Surrey Eagles of the junior A BCHL — where crash victim Jaxon Joseph used to play — gave $5,000.
Garinger said the team is still looking at precisely how the money will be used to help families but the club will work with professionals to make sure it is done right.
“We want to make sure we do exactly the right thing to support … our Humboldt Broncos family,” he said.
The giving across this province was not only of the monetary variety.
The mother of former NH-Ler Colby Armstrong offered a place to stay for any families who had people in hospital in Saskatoon
“All the young lives lost, the excitement of going and doing a playoff game, waiting all season for that and it’s all just destroyed in a few minutes. It’s just unfathomable for those families,” she said Saturday.
“Thankfully people recognize that families are coming from far distances who have to sit now with children who have been critically injured. Those are people that really need some help with those expenses.”
Ian Boxall, a councillor for the RM of Connaught #457, lives five miles from the scene of the collision. He also reached out on Twitter to offer a place to stay to anyone in need.
“Hug your loved ones, count your blessing because you just never know,” he said.