From a school assembly to a pair of skates
Stronger Together Hockey reaches students in the classroom. Open Ice Initiative makes the next step onto the ice possible. This is what the two of those look like joined together.
this solves
A student sits through an assembly about hockey and belonging, and something in it lands. They go home. Nothing happens next, because the next step costs four to five hundred dollars in equipment before anyone has booked an hour of ice.
That gap is where almost every child is lost. Not at the assembly, and not at the rink. In between.
Six steps, two organisations
- 01Stronger Together Hockey
The assembly
A speaker, a room full of students, and forty minutes about belonging that happens to be framed around hockey. No skates, no cost, no barrier to walking in.
- 02Stronger Together Hockey
The classroom
Classroom resources, tabletop hockey and student recognition. The point is not to find the athletes. It is to make sure every student in the room can see a way to be part of something.
- 03Both organisations
The interest
Some students want to keep going. A teacher notices, or a student says so. That is the moment the pathway exists to catch, and right now in most schools nothing catches it.
- 04Open Ice Initiative
The gear
A full set of equipment, fitted, and theirs to keep. This is the barrier that stops almost everyone, and it is the one we exist to remove.
- 05Open Ice Initiative
The ice
A beginner-friendly camp with professional coaching, where nobody assumes you can skate and nobody is surprised when you cannot. Four days, free, lunch included.
- 06Leaside, the Wildcats, Horizons
What comes next
An association on their doorstep, a Saturday session, a team. The step that turns a good week into the start of something.
Not every student has to play
Some students may play hockey. Some may never play hockey. Some may connect through teamwork, leadership, volunteering, tabletop hockey, storytelling, or cheering others on. The message is that there is room for everyone to be part of the team.
The goal of this pathway is not to convert a school into hockey players. It is to make sure that a student who wants the next step can actually take it, and that a student who does not still walks out of the assembly with something.
What we are asking a school for
Nothing financial. A pilot school gives us an assembly slot and a staff contact. Everything after that is ours.
An assembly slot
Forty minutes, one time, delivered by Stronger Together Hockey at no cost to the school.
A staff contact
One person who can flag a student who wants to keep going. That is the whole referral mechanism.
Permission to follow up
So a family hears from us directly, in whatever language is easiest for them.
One thousand and sixty dollars, per child, all in
| Item | Each | Number | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Helmet with cage | $85 | 1 | $85 |
| Skates | $140 | 1 | $140 |
| Stick | $60 | 1 | $60 |
| Gloves | $55 | 1 | $55 |
| Shoulder pads | $45 | 1 | $45 |
| Elbow pads | $30 | 1 | $30 |
| Shin guards | $45 | 1 | $45 |
| Hockey pants | $55 | 1 | $55 |
| Jersey and socks | $35 | 1 | $35 |
| Equipment, after Hockey Stick Man | 1 | $380 | |
| Ice, and everything else the camp needs | $480 | 1 | $480 |
| Total | $860 |
That is one child on the ice for four days, with a full set of equipment that is theirs.
The list price above is what a family would pay in a shop, which is the number that keeps them out. It is not what we pay. Hockey Stick Man donates part of every set outright, and we buy the rest, which comes to $380 a child. Coaching is donated, so it costs nothing at all. The largest line is ice: between $300 and $450 an hour, three hours of it every day, which for a four day camp is $3,600 to $5,400 before a single child is fitted. All in, one camper costs $860.
pathway
Fund the step in the middle
The assembly is free. The classroom work is free. The part that costs money is the gear and the ice, and that is the part that decides whether anything happens.
Open Ice Initiative is a Toronto registered nonprofit, not a registered charity, so we cannot issue charitable tax receipts.
Because corporate support delivers logo placement, named programme rights and media association, it can typically be recorded as a marketing or advertising expense. Please confirm the treatment with your finance team. This is not tax advice.