Canadian Tire’s Jumpstart Charity’s annual Jumpstart Month is underway in Grande Prairie to encourage shoppers to donate to help kids participate in sports in their communities.
Jumpstart is described as an institution in Grande Prairie, assisting local youth sport organizations such as the Regional Sport Connection, Camp Tamarack, and the Peace Wapiti School Division.
Jumpstart President Marco Di Buono says this year’s month is more significant than ever, as last year, one in three families reported they couldn’t afford sports for their kids, and this year, that number has increased to one in two.
“The most important is that this year, more than ever, the affordability crisis is hitting families with respect to what they can do for their kids relative to sport and physical activity,” he says. “We know that one in every two families is telling us the same thing and the downside to this is not being able to prioritize sport and physical activity for their kids.”
During the Christmas season, some harrowing statistics came out of Grande Prairie’s Salvation Army, which reported one in every five Grande Prairie families accessing food services during the holidays, and Di Buono says youth sports are unfortunately not even an option for some families in 2024.
“If one in five are saying they can’t afford to eat, one in two are telling us that they can’t prioritize sports anymore,” he says. “It is disheartening because we know that participating in sport is not only important for physical and mental well being, but it helps kids do better in school.”
Di Buono credits the recent “State of Play Youth Report” when he says that the issue is not one of disinterest from kids, but rather a supply issue, saying there are simply not enough affordable sports options for kids and their families. Outside of high registration costs, Di Buono says costs associated with equipment, tournament fees, and transportation are a major deterrent for many families in Grande Prairie.
“We don’t have a demand problem with sport, kids want to play, they’re telling us they want to play, what we have is a bit of a supply challenge,” he says. “We’re not creating enough affordable opportunities for them.”
As a result, Di Buono along with his colleagues say donating at the register is more beneficial than ever. The Jumpstart President adds that donations are always tracked and put right back into the community they came from, so residents can feel good about supporting local youth sports in Grande Prairie.
“100 per cent of every dollar that’s donated by a customer can go right back into programming,” he says. “We want to make sure that they feel confident that kids in their actual community are benefiting from the donations that they’re making at the store.”
Di Buono says over the 20 years of Jumpstart operations in Grande Prairie, nearly 7,500 kids have seen direct support from Jumpstart, with almost $1 million distributed in the Grande Prairie area alone.
