‘It’s really something special’: Orléans hockey team delivers care packages alongside local outreach group

Hockey players from the Orléans Eastend Storm delivered care packages to those in need near Ottawa's ByWard Market. Feb. 21, 2026. (Andrew Adlington/CTV News Ottawa)

An Orléans hockey team helped deliver 100 care packages to Ottawa’s vulnerable community on Saturday morning.

Players and coaches for the Orléans Eastend Storm walked through Lower Town alongside the SOS Street Outreach Society, delivering packages that included food, personal care items and more.

Guillaume Tremblay, coach of the Orléans Eastend Storm, says the morning spent volunteering served as “an eye-opener on some of the realities of life” for the teens on his hockey team.

“It’s really something special,” he said. “We teach kids to be generous and help, but it shouldn’t stop. It shouldn’t stop in life.”

Tremblay says the care packages included items like soap, toothbrushes and lip balm, as well as food items and reusable water bottles.

“A lot of things we were able to gather up due to some generous businesses and donators in Orléans,” Tremblay says.

Bruce McConville, coordinator of SOS Street Outreach Society, says the hockey team joined the volunteer organization on one of their weekly walks last week. After some discussion, the team decided they would put together and distribute the packages alongside SOS, which McConville called a “great initiative.”

“We’re very proud and honoured that they have joined forces and volunteered along with us,” McConville said.

McConville says the SOS Street Outreach Society was formed three years ago, and their mission is to end street homelessness in Ottawa and across Canada.

“We’re an active group of volunteers that are intent on helping our homeless brothers and sisters,” McConville said.

“We call Ottawa’s most vulnerable people MVPs. They have a name. They’re part of our society, and we’re trying to engage all of Ottawa’s citizens into helping alleviate all of the issues associated with chronic street homelessness.”

For Tremblay and the Orléans Eastend Storm, the initiative was opportunity to open up their hearts to those in need.

“You open up your heart to others, you distribute the love to others, and you get a lot of love back at the same time,” Tremblay said.

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