Droves of fans and supporters flooded into the South Huron Rec Centre in Exeter Thursday night for a pair of charity hockey games to benefit the Huron County Food Bank Distribution Centre.
Four local businesses put teams together to play the games, and hundreds of pounds of food were donated as a result of the packed event. Mary-Ellen Zielman, Executive Director of the Huron County Food Bank Distribution Centre, says seeing the support of the community was amazing.
"The whole community has come out, the stands are full of people and to see the challenges among the teams is great. It's a great community event and the community has certainly stood behind the distribution centre for many years, and it's just great to be a part of this," Zielman said enthusiastically.
Huron Motor Products, Jaden's Mechanical, Huron Tractor and McCann Redi-Mix all faced off on the ice, with the big winner being the food bank.
Zielman says the donations are very appreciated because many families are struggling financially and need to access the food bank like never before.
"And certainly the economic situation right now is gonna make it even more of a challenge. So it's wonderful to have these organizations doing these events. It helps us to help the local food banks and aid agencies that we serve, and it reaches far into the communities of Huron County," added Zielman.
South Huron Mayor George Finch says seeing the community come together to support the event was awesome.
"This is the community in its organic form coming together, working together to achieve greater things. We have great businesses, we've always had great businesses, but this is a demonstration of how great they are. The public support, too, look at this, it's full here," Finch beamed. "There's so many demands on people's finances right now, with fundraising efforts for different things. But the food bank's always been a priority for the community, so I'm really glad to see that they're all out here supporting it. Very happy and couldn't say enough good things about what went on here tonight."
To find out more about the Huron County Food Bank Distribution Centre, or to volunteer or donate, visit our website or huroncountyfoodbank.org.
