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Hedican overwhelmed by growth of Coach4Food

A very busy time of year just got a whole lot busier for Tom Hedican. The founder of Coach4Food in North Bay is now overseeing similar initiatives taking place in 19 other Ontario Hockey League communities.

A very busy time of year just got a whole lot busier for Tom Hedican. 

The founder of Coach4Food in North Bay is now overseeing similar initiatives taking place in 19 other Ontario Hockey League communities.  

"It’s dumbfounding and it’s surreal, and it’s amazing to see it in other cities,  this is all normal in North Bay and it has been here for almost 10 years but when I go to different cities and I see those OHL teams are advertising Coach4Food and doing those things, you know we get the mayor out here who is out here with the Battalion and all these things coming together.  Now those things are happening in other cities and so for me it’s just surreal," said Hedican. 

In September, the Ontario Hockey League officially announced its partnership with Coach4Food.  Hedican was flattered the league jumped on board with his program where hockey teams gather non-perishable food items or sponsorships in exchange for a professional hockey practice organized by Hedican.  

"The official partnership with OHL is huge," Hedican said about the program he is overseeing across the province, noting that he is not running the practices outside of North Bay.  Those are being run by the OHL teams in their respective communities.     

"I mean there are so many charities that want to partner with such a professional league, I mean outside the NHL I don’t know if I could have got a more professional league to partner with and there’s a long list of people that would like to have that partnership with them and for Coach4Food and the food banks and our charity to be selected as their cause marketing campaign for October to run through December, to see that in every city is mind blowing."

Hedican says OHL communities are all using different techniques to raise funds and gather food for their respective food banks. He points out to the Barrie Colts, who brought their bus around to area grocery stores with the goal to fill the entire bus with food as one unique marketing idea.  

Yes, Coach4Food is definitely catching on.  

While the professional goalie coach and former OHL assistant coach with the Centennials and London Knights is a lot busier this year, he says that additional workload won't impact the amount of time he puts into the community where it all started.  

"It will run basically the same way it’s always ran in North Bay, the top 3 teams again will get rewarded with practices by the Battalion staff and I will do all the practices with the teams that want a Coach4Food practice," he said. 

"I think the big thing this year is how close are we going to get to one million pounds?"

Meantime, the local OHL team is also excited about supporting the cause again this year.  A half dozen Battalion players already helped in the cause on November 18th by taking part in a charity volleyball game which the women's volleyball league gathered food for the North Bay Food Bank.  

"Definitely we had a chance to help out last year and it was great, the kids loved it and it was a great experience for them and they did it for a great cause and now that it’s becoming a league thing its nothing but awesome, what Tom has done is unbelievable," said Battalion goalie Jake Smith.  
 


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Chris Dawson

About the Author: Chris Dawson

Chris Dawson has been with BayToday.ca since 2004. He has provided up-to-the-minute sports coverage and has become a key member of the BayToday news team.
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