Afton Park residents and staff come together to honour Humboldt Broncos

‘Our communities come together in times like this’
4/20/2018  - Deron Hamel
Afton Park Place residents and staff showed their support for the Humboldt Broncos by wearing hockey jerseys April 12.  

Residents and staff members at Afton Park Place say the recent tragedy involving the Humboldt Broncos hockey team has been on their minds, so on April 12 they joined other Canadians by wearing hockey jerseys in support of the #JerseysforHumboldt campaign.

Life enrichment worker Janice Cousins brought some of her son’s hockey jerseys to the Sarnia long-term care community that day so residents could show their support for the Broncos. By coincidence, a floor hockey game had been scheduled as an activity that day, so residents wore jerseys when they played.

On April 6, a bus carrying members of the Humboldt Broncos along with coaches and team staff collided with a tractor-trailer in rural Saskatchewan. The Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League team had been travelling to a game at the time of the crash.

The crash killed 16 people and injured 13 others. Since then, there has been an outpour of support for those affected by the incident from people across Canada and around the world.

Janice says the residents had heard about the tragedy in Humboldt through the media and wanted to share in the outpouring of condolences and show support.

Janice says residents ask her daily to update them on the GoFundMe campaign to support those affected by the incident. She has also kept everyone updated on other fundraising campaigns, such as 50-50 draws NHL games have been hosting and how a local sports print shop, Planet Stitch, raised $12,685 by selling Humboldt Broncos T-shirts.

There is a cork board at Afton Park Place that Janice updates weekly with OHL standings on one side and NHL standings on the other. She has since dedicated a portion of the board to the victims of the Humboldt Broncos tragedy with photos of the 16 people who died. The board includes condolences and a ribbon that’s green and yellow, the Broncos team colours.

“Our communities come together in times like this, which solidifies the statement ‘we are all Broncos,’ ” Janice says.

“One of my residents stated, ‘it hits close to home, how many parents put their kids on buses daily to send them to sports and school, expecting their safe return.’ I couldn’t agree more, as a hockey mom who has sent my son to games on a coach bus like the one the Broncos entered that day.”

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