New Hockey Gear for Drew K!

Please help replace Drew's stolen hockey gear.

My name is Jim.  I'm a hockey dad.  My son's friend and teammate, Drew K., is a fantastic kid in the 7th grade. Nice, smart, funny, talented - a great kid.  That's him in the picture, playing in a game for the Grand Rapids Amateur Hockey Association Bantam A youth hockey team a couple weeks ago.

All the gear he's wearing in that photo is now gone.

It was stolen, along with his family's SUV, from the parking lot of a hotel in Southfield, Michigan, while the team was in the Detroit area for a hockey tournament last weekend.  When they went to leave the hotel for the rink on Sunday morning....no car.  No gear. 

It had been a difficult enough week for Drew and his family to begin with, but this was almost too much to take.  Drew's parents, Jim and Leslie, teachers in our community and great people too, said he's taking it as best as he can, but he's pretty heartbroken about losing his gear because he's always been so proud of it and taken good care of it. 

Sure, there's insurance - with a $100 deductible for the car and a $500 deductible for the contents, which included more than the gear itself.  No payout for 30 days either.  We as hockey parents know that the sport can be expensive - we sign up for that.  Buying gear for 1, 2 or even 3 kids is daunting, but usually we do it piecemeal.  Replace what you can, when you need to.  But replacing an ENTIRE set of gear, out of pocket, unexpectedly - that would be too much for almost any of us to be able to manage. 

We are so blessed in the hockey community to have great family and friends who rally around us in times of need - great or small.  Drew's parents have expressed gratitude for the multitude of offers of used gear, to be given or lent, and I'm proud of the response so far. 

That said, I think we can do better.  We can do better than 30 days and we can do better than used gear.  Let's get him some new replacement gear ASAP.  I'm asking for funds to pay for a new set of gear - head to toe. 

The ask amount should cover the cost of a good qualtiy set of gear:  everything - pads, helmet, skates, gloves, a couple of sticks.  I'm figuring in expense for replacement game jerseys and socks and a bag too.  If there's anything left over after the dust clears - gear replaced, deductibles paid, insurance benefits received, etc. - the surplus will go to the Ryan Fischer Legacy Scholarship Fund.

Please help me make this happen.  This young man has experienced first-hand a very ugly reality of life: that there are people in this world who will take things from you .  I'd like to remind him that there are those who will give freely as well.  Thank you.