Garbage Can Cup supports local youth with ANEC

Posted on: Staff Writer

By John Watson Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

The Wheatland Recreational Hockey Group held their annual Garbage Can Cup this year being in support of the Krall Family. At the conclusion of the game, $1,000 was donated in Livy Krall’s (9) name.

A local recreational hockey group has come together to support a family in need, raising $1,000 for the Krall family by the end of their annual charity hockey game. 

Joe Elliot, who runs the Wheatland Recreational Hockey Group, explained the money aims to help Livy Krall, 9, and her family following her Acute Necrotizing Encephalopathy of Childhood (ANEC) diagnosis.

“It’s a shinny group; we play out in Standard every Sunday night through the hockey season, and it is our year end game. Over the last three years, we have made it a charity game,” he said. “It was an idea that we had a few years ago, and it took a little bit to get the nuts and bolts of it together. As the group grew, some of the group that has been there from the beginning, we started thinking if there was a way we could have a positive impact out there on our local community.”

ANEC is a rare, rapid onset brain disease which occurs in the wake of viral infections and is characterized by lesions in the brain, among other severe symptoms. 

Elliot explained several of the people who participate in the group are closely connected with the Krall family which eventually lead to the decision to dedicate their fundraising efforts for them this season. 

“The charity game was great. The way we run this is the top attendees of shinny throughout the year, the top 26 skaters and our two goalies get an invite to our cup game, and I have two captains picked from the previous year,” he said. “We go through a draft in the week before and we have a great game … some of the sponsorship that we get is deals under ice, support from our concession, and so from there, we had team blue against team white.”

The Krall family was invited out to watch the game and was presented with the $1,000 cheque at the end of the competition. 

The funds raised are largely through drop-in fees for the Garbage Can Cup game itself, as well as internal raffles and activities.

“This was our biggest pot since we started doing the charity things. We were just over $500 the first year, (and) just over $600 last year,” added Elliot. “There has been lots of demand for it, especially coming out of COVID-19, there was a lot of people who hung up their skates, and we had a few lean years there.”

The Garbage Can Cup will return next season, with Elliot aiming to continue the trend of increasing the pot in support of local causes.