Love for Petes turns into amazing adventure
Growing up in Gore’s Landing, Mirko Stimac’s fondest childhood memories were of attending Peterborough Petes games with his late father Charlie.
Mirko’s life took a turn when he suffered a stroke at age 11 which left him with a permanent brain injury. Now 42, he lives in a residence in Scarborough that tries to foster independent living for people living with brain injuries.
David Slonim, a mentor coordinator for Toronto-based Community Head Injury Resource Services, first met Stimac in 2002 when he worked at his residence. They struck up a friendship and Slonim decided to take Stimac on a road trip to a Petes game at the Memorial Centre 14 years ago after Stimac fold him of his trips to see the Petes as a child.
“What he remembers is going with his dad to the big city in Peterborough and going to the games together and that feeling of togetherness,” Slonim said.
“I just remember going to the games and having fun,” Stimac said.
It started a tradition that has grown into something much bigger.
“The first time we went it was just Mirko and I. We just drove up and I didn’t know where anything was,” Slonim said. “We just hung out. The fun for me is the road trip, the drive up and chatting. It’s a different vibe when you go on an adventure like that.”
Within the first couple of years some of Stimac’s friends asked to join them. They got to know some of the Petes staff who gave them discounts on tickets.
“The reality is a lot of our guys live on fixed incomes and don’t have employment so that makes a difference,” Slonim said.
In recent years Petes group sales co-ordinator Matt D’Agostini, who is also from Scarborough, has befriended the group.
“I can’t stress how accommodating Matt is,” Slonim said.
“The Petes have always been good to us.”
The group continued to grow year after year with several vehicles bringing the group up Highway 115.
Four years ago, Teryl Hoefel, executive director of the Brain Injury Association Peterborough Region, visited their Toronto facility where Slonim shared the story of their Petes excursions. They arranged to meet up with a group from Peterborough for the game bringing the size of the group to 50.
“They have a clubhouse in downtown Peterborough and the second year we met them there and hung out and shared sports stories,” Slonim said.
It branched out to an annual summer gathering as well with closer to 100 people. They’ve had trips to the Peterborough Lift Lock and a local park. This year they’ll visit Windreach Farm in Whitby and a second outing to an area theatre production.
Their 2018 Petes trip is set for Thursday night when the Petes host the North Bay Battalion at 7 p.m. The two groups will hang out at the local clubhouse and have dinner before heading to the rink where they’ll be seated in the Sun Life Family Zone in the arena’s north-end. For many of them, it’s the highlight of their social calendar.
“Mirko’s doing has created this amazing adventure,” Slonim said. “People started asking in December ’When are we going to Peterborough?’ We’ve met so many new people.
“From it we now do something in the summer that is even bigger and none of it would have been possible without Mirko’s love of the Petes.”
Stimac has become a mentor to others with brain injuries.
“Mirko is a mentor responsible for a lot of our outings and sports trips and he also runs a sports talk group,” Slonim said.
“It’s cool meeting new people,” Stimac said.