Black Tie Hockey Draft a win-win fundraiser
The 2018 Crescent Point Energy Black Tie NHL Hockey Draft raised almost $40,000 for two worthy causes this year.
The draft evening was held on April 9 at the Living Sky Casino’s Event Centre and the funds raised will benefit the Dr. Noble Irwin Foundation and the Field of Dreams, which supports the Swift Current 57’s baseball club.
“Last year we kind of did it as a let’s wait and see what works and what happens,” explained Jim Dekowny, Development Officer for the Dr. Noble Irwin Regional Healthcare Foundation.
“We teamed up with Brad [Woods] and the Field of Dreams and the 57’s and it was good last year. We ran into a bit of a hiccup with the Broncos being on the same night. This year we had 194 people involved. It was a full house. We went from $15,000 last year to that $18,000-$19,000 this year. We split that, so it’s close to $20,000 each that we make, so $40,000 in total.”
“For us, we partner with the Noble Irwin for community togetherness,” added Brad Woods, Chairperson of the Field of Dreams Committee. “We are always trying to find new ways to generate revenue to keep the ball club going. Every year it gets more and more expensive to run, so we were looking at new ways and the opportunity last year we kind of jumped into it and figured a few things out. I think this year we took it to the next level. We saw that with the teams that we had there and the money that was raised.”
The money raised from the draft will help both organizations in different ways.
“This year we are just starting a capital campaign to get a portable x-ray machine at the hospital,” explained Dekowny. “Last year we did a portable ultrasound machine and it was a huge hit. The doctors are just loving it and the nurses are enjoying it. Now the need there is a portable x-ray machine, so we are going to go with raising, I think it’s about $150,000.”
“That money that Field of Dreams makes, we donate it right to the ball club,” explained Woods. “They keep it in a separate fund and try to use it for special projects, special initiatives, and try not to use it for operating. It is always there as a back up, but we like it to go to things like when we switched over from the Indians to the 57’s we had uniforms and signage and a whole lot of things, projects like that, batting cage upgrades and things like that that we are working on,” said Woods, who noted that minor baseball in Swift Current would also receive a chunk of the money raised.
After a very successful event the draft should be back in 2019 said Woods.
“Yeah I think now we’ve worked through the kinks and we’ve got a great title sponsor with Crescent Point,” said Woods. “It just takes a lot of that pressure off and we can focus on making it a memorable and fun event. I definitely see us going again next year.”
Dekowny also noted the support of Crescent Point Energy.
“Without them and that title sponsorship, it’s just huge for us. They are so community oriented as well. They help in a lot of areas, but they really stepped up to help us with the major sponsorship of this black tie event, so it’s been good.”
The Riverside Electric team won the top prize of $7,500 in the 2018 NHL Playoff Black Tie Hockey Draft. Second place was won by Astro’s Cruisers, from Central Butte, while the Lucky Puckers, from MNP, placed third.