Adding an assist: Glace Bay hockey program gets helping hand in form of special delivery

The Glace Bay Learn to Skate program received a special donation last week after thousands of dollars worth of donated gear was destroyed in a flood last month.

GLACE BAY, N.S. -

A Glace Bay, N.S., hockey program that provides kids the chance to play for free received a major assist last week, after thousands of dollars of its gear was destroyed in a flood last month.

After a more than four-hour road trip, volunteers from the Mission Thrift Store in Lower Sackville, N.S., arrived at the Miners Forum with a special delivery on Friday.

“I was expecting a truck full of gear, not a cube van. So, I was caught off guard, but pleasantly surprised there's that much gear here,” said Nick Bonnar, the organizer of Glace Bay Learn to Skate program.

Last month, the program lost $15,000 worth of donated gear, after a pipe burst inside the rink.

After the story aired on CTV News at 5, people wanted to help.

“We serve as a mission thrift store in helping communities and helping them have a better life, and obviously Nick has made such an impact with the community, and our chair Rick Winter felt moved by it and said this is what we're about,” said Carrie Ramsay, the manager of Mission Thrift Store.

Donations poured into the mainland store after a campaign was launched asking for gently used equipment for kids.

The end result was buckets and bags of gear, enough to fill a 14-foot cube van.

“They definitely wanted it directed to here because they knew how much it meant. We had people who had kids who were involved with hockey since the time they could skate until they were teens and they brought all their gear in specifically for this campaign,” said Ramsay.

The Learn to Skate program has allowed kids to hit the ice for free over the years, helping to cut the high costs associated with playing Canada's game.

The flood left Bonnar filled with emotion, but after the donation, there were tears of a different kind.

“I've been around the game a long time and there's lots of help out there, but this is very, very precious. It means so much to me and it's going to mean a whole lot to the kids and community. It's a big help,” said Bonnar.