It’s not like Don Cameron is a grumpy guy. But if you ever want to see an “insta-smile” just ask him about his beloved home province. As a proud Prince Edward Islander (born in Summerside), Don is more than happy to tell you all that Canada’s smallest province has to offer. And as you probably know, PEI is famous for its potatoes. Which is just one of the reasons “Don Cameron Potato Night” makes so much sense.

If you didn’t know already, this Friday (the 28th, with Windsor in town) is the 14th annual Don Cameron Potato Night at The Aud. It’s the night we encourage you to bring donations of potatoes or cash to the game in support of the House of Friendship. Which is another reason Potato Night makes so much sense. The House of Friendship supports 18 different food assistance programs throughout our community and goes through about 170,000 pounds of potatoes every year in the process! These programs are helping our neighbours and it’s a community-based effort like this that can make all the difference.

New to the program this year is a matching donation from local Zehrs stores. They’ve pledged to match our donations on Friday “bag for bag” and last year’s Potato Night brought in the equivalent of 50,000 pounds of potatoes. Think we can top it? Just imagine if we do. Our donations, plus the match from Zehrs, could give the House of Friendship its entire annual supply of spuds in one shot!

We had some fun at the rink with a photo shoot this morning. Brandon Maxwell even faced some shots in goal…and not one potato passed through his pads! I’m sure some pics will make it to the main site in short order. In the meantime, get shopping! Your bag of potatoes plus your neighbour’s bag of potatoes will make a big difference this Friday. And then that emergency food will be there for the rest of our neighbours when they need it this year. Take it from a guy who once accepted a challenge to try and live off $20 in food for a week. Nothing tastes sweeter than that potato at a community meal (even when it’s not a yam)!

What…like I good resist a bad potato pun before signing off?

See you at the rink.