INNISFAIL – Rotarian Tammy Thompson opened the noon hour meeting of the Rotary Club of Innisfail on Sept. 1 with a huge smile to note there had never been one so well attended.
The lunch meeting, held at the Innisfail Golf Club, did not just feature loyal service club members, it also included family members of the late Larry Reid, who was a coach development legend with minor hockey.
Rotary also invited civic leaders, including Todd Becker, the CAO for the Town of Innisfail, and members of town council, including Mayor Jean Barclay and councillors Dale Dunham and Cindy Messaros.
And then there was Dale Bennett, brother of former Innisfail resident Ray Bennett, a current assistant coach of this year’s Stanley Cup-winning Colorado Avalanche, who brought hockey’s sacred trophy back to Innisfail on Aug. 8.
The cup event not only thrilled hundreds and hundreds of Innisfailians, it attracted notice across the province and even beyond.
For the community, it was also a day to work on giving back to the town’s minor hockey community.
Thousands of dollars were raised through Rotary’s barbecue on Stanley Cup Day, as well as from a silent auction, and other donations given to Rotary and the Innisfail Minor Hockey Association (IMHA).
“It's a celebration of the accomplishments of the Rotary club and our great community from the day with the Stanley Cup,” said Thompson, the service club’s past-president.
“We wanted to celebrate what Rotary was able to do and sponsor, along with the Innisfail Minor Hockey Association and the Reid and Bennett families.
“It's just great that so many people are able to come and celebrate and just see the wonderful things that happen when a community pulls together.”
Rotary donated $3,200 to the IMHA on Sept. 1. Thompson said a total of between $11,000 and $12,000 was raised from Stanley Cup Day; monies that will go to the Larry Reid Memorial Coaching Development Fund, a legacy created in the late coach’s honour. The fund is now administered by the IMHA.
“We use the funds from there to offer programs for coaching and player development,” said Darren Black, executive director of the IMHA who attended the Rotary lunch meeting and gave praise to the service club for its hard work.
“Huge credit goes to the Rotary. They designed or facilitated all the meals and the burgers and hotdogs and stuff for that day. They got the donations for everything.”
Dale Bennett, who is from Calgary, enthusiastically came to the lunch on behalf of brother Ray, who was busy with his NHL coaching duties. He said the donations given to the coaching development fund will have a significant impact to the minor hockey community.
“The people that deliver that impact are the coaching influencers; those parents, the volunteers who deliver that,” said Dale. “The more we can improve that, the more we're going to fundamentally improve the game.”
David Reid, son of the late coaching development legend, said the lunch was a special moment for his family. He said his family is appreciative of the efforts by Rotary, along with many local citizens and alumni from the 1962/63 Innisfail Pontiacs, who created the development fund in 2017.
“His (Larry Reid) legacy will live on just not in town but across the province,’ said Reid, who came to the lunch with mother Helen, sister Karen and son Michael.
“He would be speechless to see what has progressed and the amount of money that has been raised to support the fund and the use that Innisfail minor hockey has been able to do with the funds and promote.”
