The U11 Lakeshore Lightning White is rallying community support to help fulfil its goal of winning the Chevrolet Good Deeds Cup, the team will complete good deeds and document them on social media. At the end of the competition, the team with the most completed deeds wins $100,000 for a charitable cause of their choice.Â
Since the competition started on January 17, the team has completed more than 200 good deeds, Finley Kovac donated several pairs of snow pants to people who needed them, Remi Oliver donated clothes, and Taylor Santarossa picked up trash in his community. Currently, the Lightning trail only the U11 Huntsville Sting Black, the same organization that won the 2024 Good Deeds Cup.
Kindness chain reaction
To reach the top, the team needs help from the community, such as completing and documenting good deeds or providing more ideas for the Lightning. Chantelle Meadows, the team organizer, said the deeds must be posted and follow the competition guidelines or submitted to the team’s Instagram. Meadows observed that the cup has allowed the players to grow individually and as a team.
“They’ve really like stepped up, and now it’s like contagious for them, like who’s going to get the most this week, and you know, challenging every one of them to do more, get involved, and how many more can they post every week,” Meadows said.
Some girls were asked about the importance of completing good deeds for others, Tessa Thomson said because kindness is contagious, one person’s good deed will compel others to do the same, creating a ripple effect. Petyon Trepanier answered that kindness is to be nice. Madison Villemaire added that they should help their communities as much as possible.
“Because the world needs more kindness, and there’s so much hate in the world, you need more kindness to feel good about yourself and be happy,” Lauren Meadows emphasized.
As the team prepared for Sunday morning’s match, a player’s name and compliments were written in each dressing room stall. Ainsley Johnson and her mom came up with the idea to do a good deed for her teammates.Â
Johnson echoed the significance of making other people feel better about themselves. Following the players’ submissions, the team has decided to donate the winnings to local cancer research if they’re successful.
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The U11 Lakeshore Lightning White plays for a more significant cause
The U11 Lakeshore Lightning White has specifically selected Play For A Cure, an event supporting cancer research in Windsor-Essex. Eleanor Hopkins spoke about the importance of the cause that some people in his family have had cancer.
Nora Jobin voiced his concern for several people in the world who have cancer, Joni Siddall remarked that they want everyone cured and reiterated the fact that they do not want anyone to be lost to cancer. Olivia Lenard Uzzi added that a little donation could help because cancer is a big problem worldwide.Â
Vivienne Delaroche emphasized how a sizeable number of kids could get cancer and how disheartening it is for a young person to die. The Lightning will have until March 6 to try and climb to the top, and as part of this year’s competition, the 2nd and 3rd place finishers will receive $20,000 and $10,000, respectively, for their charities.
In like manner, Bulgaria’s CSKA Sofia, in a groundbreaking move, introduced a special clause to players’ contracts starting this month that mandates their participation in charitable initiatives. Dubbed the ‘CSKA Foundation’ clause, players have 30 days to choose a charity to work with, the club created the CSKA Foundation last year, which supports several initiatives, from socially responsible projects to charitable causes.Â
The U11 Lakeshore Lightning White’s dedication and unwavering community support prove that small acts of kindness can have a profound impact.