McSweeney’s WHL Community Collective: Medicine Hat Tigers
Medicine Hat, Alta.- It’s a partnership ‘rooted’ in community.
The Medicine Hat Tigers have teamed up with the Root Cellar Food and Wellness Hub to promote food security in the community.
“We are a little bit different than your average food bank,” Executive Director Melissa Mullis explained. “We believe in supporting the community in really innovative, sustainable ways. We are a place where we teach people how to garden and teach people how to cook and have programming that supports people to become independent and food secure.”
The team visits every few weeks to cook meals, bag lunches for schoolchildren, gather grocery orders in the warehouse and interact with clients and other volunteers.
While it’s become a heartwarming experience the players look forward to, it’s also an eye-opening glimpse into the level of need in their community.
“In 2019, we were feeding just over 1000 people and now we’re at over 2700,” Executive Director Melissa Mullis said. “So the amount that has risen since then is 62%. It’s so drastic.”
“You don’t realize how many people need those services, especially myself, I was kind of naive going into the whole situation,” veteran defenceman Dru Krebs said. “I was able to really see how important and integral it is in the community. The Tigers will try to do whatever it takes to help out the people in our community, as they have helped us for over 50 years now.”
Meal prep, soup creation and cookie making. All in a days work for the Tigers down at the @MHFoodBank today giving their time back to the community once again. Thanks to Tyler, Rhett, Dru, Oasiz & JVM for helping the hard working people at the Root Cellar#WHL #MedHat #YXH #CHL pic.twitter.com/Lo7Jj8p9WT
— Medicine Hat Tigers (@tigershockey) November 22, 2023
The Brown Bag Lunch Program alone feeds 1500 children across three area school districts.
Defenceman Josh Van Mulligen hopes to spread some smiles in his home community- even if he admits the Tigers might not be the most experienced chefs in the kitchen.
“Definitely a lot of fun to go there and bake cookies with the boys- we’re not the best at it but we try our hardest,” Van Mulligen said. “It’s obviously where I grew up, so I think now that I’m playing for a big sports team in the city it means a lot to be able to give back to everyone there.”
The Root Cellar is eager to grow the union and continue to set a positive example in the community.
“They’re just kind of natural celebrities in our community,” Mullis added. “I think it’s such a cool experience not only for our clients but for the volunteers as well. We have many volunteers that are taking photos with them and are just really excited. They’ve done lots of different things for us. They’ve done some cleaning they’ve done some work in the the warehouse to support our team back there. Coming to share their time with us is really impactful, but I think even for them, it creates an opportunity for them to become well-rounded individuals as well.”
Proceeds from the chuck-a-puck promotion during Medicine Hat’s match against Saskatoon on February 17 will also support the Root Cellar.
The Western Hockey League strives to promote and foster a welcoming environment in communities close to our 22 clubs in Western Canada and the Pacific Northwest. Every team has the creative freedom to allow their players and staff to work with the organizations and groups that they are most passionate about. The end goal is to create and maintain long-lasting relationships and ongoing partnerships within their community.
Through the McSweeney’s WHL Community Collective, we aim to highlight these outstanding initiatives done by each club throughout the season.