OFFICER OBTAINS HOCKEY DONATIONS FOR MARTEN FALLS AND EABAMETOONG
Marten Falls Detachment
Ivan Achneepineskum, 9 yrs old
Carson Achneepineskum, 12 yrs old
Ogoki Post, ON – March 29, 2011, Nishnawbe-Aski Police Service (NAPS) Constable Marc Beauparlant had the satisfaction of seeing an idea of his arrive at completion. In October of 2010, Cst. Beauparlant, DARE Officer for NAPS Marten Falls Detachment, began an initiative to conduct a skate drive to ensure that everyone in the First Nation community of Marten Falls would enjoy the upcoming new arena facility expected to be operational in December of 2010.
Cst. Beauparlant’s skate drive started off well in the community of Hearst with about 60 pairs of skates and some hockey equipment donations. From there, OPP Cst. Paul Harrison, also a DARE Officer for the South Porcupine Detachment got involved and brought along Retired NHL Player Peter Ing and KidzCanHelp.ca, resulting in more donations of 20 full sets of hockey equipment, including the transportation of the equipment by the OPP to Thunder Bay.
With the spreading good news and many generous donations made by Northern shield Mining Company, Justice Pelletier and court in Thunder Bay, Sgt. Marty Singleton and Sgt. Gilles Lachance of the OPP Provincial Liaison Team and many, many kind individuals, a total of 42 children and 33 adults were outfitted with hockey equipment. The total amount of donations received were 90 helmets, 39 hockey sticks, 306 skates, 26 hockey bags, 3 pairs of goalie skates, 23 goalie equipment pieces, 325 hockey jerseys, 632 hockey player equipment pieces, along with 17 roller blades and protective gear.
“As the initiative surpassed my expectations, I decided to send the surplus to our neighbouring community of Fort Hope,” stated Cst. Beauparlant. The Marten Falls equipment and the surplus equipment were dropped off by the NAPS plane in each community.
Marten Falls is located approximately 450 km northeast of Thunder Bay and Eabametoong First Nation is located approximately 385 km northeast of Thunder Bay.
Jayden Achneepineskum, 8 yrs old
Cst. Marc Beauparlant and Rob Reboks, Pilot, loading hockey equipment
Aiden Baxter, 5 yrs old
