Hockey Hall of Fame member and Toronto Maple Leafs alumnus Doug Gilmour has teamed up with an insurance company and the MLSE Foundation as part of initiative to give children with Type 1 diabetes the chance to attend a hockey camp.
As part of the partnership, Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada will be donating $500 to the MLSE Foundation for every assist on Leafs goals during March home games. They will also be donating $5 for every tweet or retweet using the hashtag #SunLifeAgainstDiabetes, up to a total of $50,000, during Leafs home game days.
The money will go towards a week-long summertime hockey camp, as well as a hockey clinic for 60 Type 1 diabetic kids at the MasterCard Centre for Hockey Excellence on Monday.
"Type 1 has grown rapidly and it's a scary thing, but you can control it," Gilmour told CTV News Channel, touching on his personal connection to the disease.
Gilmour says his family history is part of the reason he got involved; he lost his father two-and-a-half years ago to diabetes, both his mother and brother are diabetic and his grandmother was diabetic.
Participating kids will get to work with Leafs alumni on their hockey skills while learning how to keep control of their diabetes on and off the ice with exercise and proper nutrition
The partnership has currently raised $5,000 from Leafs assists, and $11,752 from tweets and retweets of the hashtag.
