Hockey moms urge Canadians to join Jersey Day: ‘We are all one team’

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LANGLEY (NEWS 1130) – The message behind today’s campaign to support victims of the deadly Humboldt bus crash is: ‘We are all one team.’

A group of BC hockey moms is urging people to wear a sports jersey — hockey or otherwise — in support of the Saskatchewan community at the centre of the tragedy.

Jersey Day organizer Jennifer Pinch says she wants Humboldt to know it’s not alone. And she’s bracing herself for what could be an emotional day.

“I work in a retail environment and I’ve I already decided if someone comes in wearing a jersey I’m going to start to cry,” says Pinch, who lives in Langley.

Pinch urges participants to post a photo of themselves in a jersey on social media with #jerseysforhumboldt.


Related articles:

Local junior hockey team pulls team bus as nation grieves Humboldt tragedy

Thousands vow to embrace Jersey Day: ‘There’s healing in the helping’

Cherry pays further tribute to Humboldt Broncos, calls for fundraising support

A look at the victims of the Humboldt team bus crash


Fellow organizer Cheryl McGregor says the movement had modest aspirations at first.

“It was just a close group of friends of mine. We were saddened and wanted to show some support. We decided maybe we could get our boys to wear their jerseys to school and one of our moms made a simple event page on Facebook — Jersey Day — and support for Humboldt Broncos. And it just started to spread. We just wanted our Langley hockey moms — all of them — to get on board. And people joined and they started sending it around the country.”

Now it has gone further than any of them could have imagined.

“We are really just quite simple hockey moms. Only three of us have Twitter accounts and we don’t know social media that well. We have a fantastic hockey mom that is trying to take care of the Facebook site. She is busy and up until three in the morning every night just trying to keep on top of things. We had no idea that is where this would head,” says McGregor.

The jersey movement has spread across the province and country and now has an international following.

“I went through our list myself to say thank you to the different towns in BC and then it spread across every province in Canada. There are over 36 states that said they are going to participate. We’ve had messages from Russia and Finland and Wales and China, just all over the world, showing support for these families and friends and teammates that are suffering right now,” says McGregor.

“We are completely overwhelmed, like I said we had no idea.”

LISTEN: Cheryl McGregor speaks to our friends Kevin and Sonia on the KiSS Morning Show

 

Sixteen people died as a result of the highway crash involving the Humboldt Broncos junior hockey team. Another 13 were injured.

Thousands of Canadians have pledged online to take part in the so-called Jersey Day, which also encourages people to wear the team’s main colour green, or a green ribbon.

Pinch says they’ve received commitments from schools, sports teams, and businesses big and small. That includes Tim Hortons, Boston Pizza, and the grocery giant Sobeys Inc.

A GoFundMe page has raised over $9 million to help the victims’ families and the survivors of the crash.

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