Aztec Engineering in Grande Prairie has raised around $65,000 for two local charities. Since 2017, Aztec has been hosting a 3 on 3 ball hockey tournament to raise money to sponsor a room in the Grande Prairie Regional Hospital. President Jason Kolosky says this year they did things a little differently.
“We chose to split the proceeds this year between the hospital foundation and 3D Children’s Charity partially because we had met our commitment to the hospital but also because our employee group felt that we needed to do something that made an immediate impact in the community.”
3D Children’s Charity collects donations and then distributes them directly to local students who need money to pay for medical and travel expenses if they are making trips to Edmonton for treatment.
The tournament featured bouncy castles and children’s activities, food trucks and beer gardens. Kolosky says the event keeps growing year over year.
“The first year we had 21 teams, the second and the third year we had 27 teams. Last year I would say we had maybe around 500 people come through during the day. This year maybe 600 people… So it does grow, it has been growing and this year when we sent out the invitation packages, we sold out 27 teams in about a weeks time.”
This year both groups will receive around $32,500 each. Since the tournament started, Aztec has raised more than $140,000 for the Grande Prairie Regional Hospital Foundation.