Belleville Jr. Bull hockey team at Inn from the Cold. Back row (left-right) Stacey Foley, Tara Schell, Nichole Streek, Dave MacMullen, Angela Bell. Middle row (left-right) Ty Foley, Joey Coates, Christian Streek, Carter Leveque, Brady Allen, Tim Leveque. Front row(left-right) Aron MacMullen, Bret Bashall, Arden Allen, Seth MacMullen. Photo by Tahreem Fatima, QNet News
By Tahreem Fatima [1]
BELLEVILLE – The Belleville Jr. Bull’s hockey team volunteered at Inn from the Cold on Wednesday evening.
Inn from the Cold is a six-week free meal program run by the Bridge Street United Church for people in need.
The players of the minor Bantam AA team along with the coach, Tim Leveque, offered to do the cleanup and the dishes after Wednesday’s meal.
“I thought it will be a great experience for the boys to give back to their community,” he said.
Leveque said he got to know about the Inn from the Cold program from a parent of one player.
This experience will definitely increase the confidence of young teens, he said.
“The boys are enjoying it and getting comfortable as well,” he said. “It’s nice for them”.
Tara Schell who is also with the team joined the volunteer effort.
“Its good to bring these young people here and let them experience something which they might never know existed,”
She said the boys are taking little time to settle in but are all excited to volunteer.
The parents of the players also volunteered. Nicole Streek said she didn’t know about the program before another mom suggested bringing the team here.
“It’s a great opportunity for our boys to see that they are people in the city that are out in the cold. It should make them more grateful for what they have,” she said.
She said Inn from the Cold is a great program and they are looking for volunteers so people should come and help them.
Player Carter Leveque, said, “our hockey coach decided that we should volunteer here and give back to the community that comes to watch our game.”
He said it was nice to do something out of their comfort zone with the hockey team.
“It was nice to meet new people and know what stuff goes in our community,” Leveque said.