The Grande Prairie Storm’s Annual Dignity Drive Tighty Whitey Toss will return during the team’s next homer against the Drumheller Dragons.
Storm Executive Director Nicole Menzies says the game is “one of the most fun” of the year, and her team is excited to continue the tradition, supporting local organizations with pre-packaged socks and underwear donations.
“This is one of the most fun games of the year for sure, to see all the excitement after the first Storm goal, when all the donations rain down on the ice, it’s super cool for us to see,” she says. “We’re really hoping to get lots of people coming out and donating to this really amazing cause.”
Menzies says her organization always looks to build on the previous year’s donation numbers. She says Storm fans always manage to show up and exceed expectations.
“We’re always hoping for bigger and better, last year we did quite well, we had several large bins of items donated from the game,” she says. “It benefits several different groups in Grande Prairie, it is proctored by the Rotary Club but donations go to the Rotary House, they go to Odyssey House, Sunrise House, the Friendship Centre, so there are several different groups, even beyond those, that will directly benefit from these donations.”
The Executive Director maintains that while the game is always fun for the fans, her skaters always enjoy the event as well.
“They’re all competing to see who’s going to get that first goal of the game, so it’s pretty cool to watch them talk about it,” she says. “A couple of days before, we always have them guess who’s going to get the first goal at the tight whitey toss, so it’s always fun to look back and see who got it right.”
Menzies adds that as the tradition has continued over the years, she has observed a heartwarming trend among the opposing team.
“Something that’s really cool that we’ve seen over the past couple of years is the guys from both teams coming out and helping collect all the donations, so that’s kinda cool to see the guys from both teams stop the game and collect all the generous donations from the community,” she says.
Storm fans are encouraged to bring newly packaged socks and underwear to the game on October 25th, and participate in the annual event by tossing them onto the ice after the Storm’s first goal.
