Penticton NHLer Duncan Keith traded his hockey stick for a shovel at Thursday鈥檚 groundbreaking ceremony at the .
The Chicago Blackhawks defenceman, with some help from his son Colton and two other hard-hat sporting kids, Aleigha and Foster, attired in their Wildstone safety vests, put shovels into the ground for the new, specially designed OSNS Play Court.
OSNS and Keith鈥檚 charity, , recently entered into a three-year partnership and the Play Court is the first of several planned projects to enhance the facility which assists families and children throughout the South Okanagan and Similkameen.
The partnership has a two-faceted schedule with some of the money also going to help families in financial crisis in the care of their children.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a pretty special opportunity and I feel it鈥檚 a huge honour to be able to be involved with the OSNS,鈥� said Keith Thursday. 鈥淚t鈥檚 about the kids, it鈥檚 about getting them the help and the guidance, all about the tools and the programming that they need to succeed in life.
鈥淚 can鈥檛 say enough about how happy and proud I am to be a small part of it and I see my son over there he鈥檚 been getting into the cookies already.鈥�
When asked about the importance now of being a parent himself he replied: 鈥淎bsolutely, it hits home a little more. It鈥檚 exciting to see my son鈥檚 going to taking part in school here as well.鈥�
Keith first got involved with the centre in June and decided to help with funding after making several visits and seeing the work being done.
鈥淭hey do a great job as it is already and why this has worked so well,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 why it鈥檚 such an honour and a privilege to be able to help out and see the children鈥檚 faces. I know my son is running around here having a ball.鈥�
According to Chicago Blackhawks Senior Vice President/General Manager Stan Bowman Keith鈥檚 work with the centre comes as no surprise.
鈥淒uncan鈥檚 donation to the OSNS Child and Youth Development Centre in Penticton is an example of how committed he is to the children and their families in his hometown,鈥� said Bowman. 鈥淭he Chicago Blackhawks organization is proud of the positive impact he has made in British Columbia and across the Chicagoland community over the course of his professional hockey career.鈥�
OSNS speech pathologist Shadi Asadi who works with the kids was also happy with the word of the partnership.
鈥淒uncan Keith and his Keith Relief team have been able to give us access to this Play Court that will support children who are currently being served by our team and children who are about to be referred,鈥� she said.
鈥淲e鈥檙e thrilled Duncan has taken such an interest in what we鈥檙e doing and the amount of children that we see every year. Obviously this is his way of giving back in his home town,鈥� said OSNS chair Shannon Simpson in a previous interview. 鈥淗e is all about helping families and helping children.鈥�
