Hockey Haven Helps Kids Beat the Streets

by SalvationArmy.ca
Categories: Feature, Mobile
Share:

Eighteen-year-old Calvin grew up in Winnipeg’s North End where he was surrounded by gangs, drugs and kids with nothing to do who terrorized people. “The streets are dangerous,” says Calvin. “Programs like The Salvation Army’s Midnight Challenge are more important than ever.”

“We started the program more than two decades ago when gang violence was at its peak,” says Mark Young, ministry director. “The situation on Winnipeg’s troubled streets remains volatile. Pressures to join gangs are immense. In many cases, they provide young people with the only place they feel they really belong.”

Every Friday night more than 40 young people not only come to hang out and have fun playing floor hockey with friends, but they come knowing that, for a few hours, they don’t have to watch their backs.

“Everyone is treated equally,” says Mark. “While not all participants are gang members, on any given night two or three gangs could be represented. Volunteers encourage youth to find alternatives to the destructive life of the streets.”

Thanks to The Salvation Army, Calvin resisted the temptation of gang membership. But that didn’t mean he wasn’t affected by its brutality. At age eight he witnessed a drive-by shooting. The teen later died in hospital. Home invasions, beatings and bomb threats were a part of daily life. Most recently his brother was viciously attacked with bear mace, a spray designed to protect you during a bear attack.

Calvin had friends die from drug and alcohol abuse, and gang life. Unable to cope, he misused prescription medication. The hockey club helped him get healthy and overcome his addiction.

“Through the Midnight Challenge youth have abandoned the gang lifestyle and become successful in other areas of life,” says Mark. “One of our youth came to the program and went on to become a construction foreman at a major work site in Manitoba. Two other became entrepreneurs on the Pacific Coast, starting their own logging companies. Others now work as filmmakers, nurses and business owners.”

“There are lots of opportunities for kids to get together with a bad crowd and get into trouble,” says Calvin. “The Salvation Army offers them an alternative so they can find hope and a future.”

Photo: Left to Right:  Jeff Hamel, community ministries supervisor, The Salvation Army Weetamah; Calvin Bruyere; Shannon Bruyere, program participants; Jonathan Hamel, The Salvation Army