Jackie Tranter will be the first to tell you that when it comes to York Simcoe Express, it's a team effort both on and off the ice.
Her son plays with the hockey association and for over a year now, Tranter has served as the director of community relations on its board.
“In my experience at York Simcoe, everybody is always wanting to give back when they can, help out, volunteer for the community,” she said.
For Tranter, giving back started with a small coat drive with her family, donating winter coats they had grown out to people in need in Toronto.
“The coat drive started off as something really grassroots, just me and my son and my husband," she said.
When her son started playing hockey with York Simcoe Express, Tranter asked other families if they would also collect coats to donate, and the annual event took off from there. Now YSE organizes its own yearly coat drive, led by Tranter, to collect winter wear that is distributed to organizations in the community, including the Lions Clubs' Coats for Kids in Newmarket.
She said the president at YSE took notice of her organizing efforts and approached her about being on the board.
"He thought it would be a perfect fit because of everything that I already do for the organization,” Tranter said. "He really wanted York Simcoe to have a bigger impact in the community and I agreed with that, too, with his vision. I believe hockey is about so much more than just hockey.”
As a member of the board, she has been able to scale up the coat drive and introduce new initiatives, like the recent First Nations hockey equipment drive.
YSE partnered with Graham McWaters, a York Region resident who has been collecting used hockey equipment for First Nations communities in Ontario. Over two weekends in September, they collected hockey equipment in what Tranter said was a huge success.
Along with YSE players, hockey players from around the region participated in the drive.
"It was great to have all the area centres plug in too. We had hockey players from Newmarket, hockey players from Aurora, we had some of the girls (league) players too… even though it was organized by us, it was so much bigger than that,” she said.
She said they have coordinated with McWaters to hold an equipment drive again next year and players are already signing up to volunteer.
While Tranter is one of the organizers, she said she wants to emphasize that it is not about her and it's not a solo effort.
"It’s not me. We have a committee made up of eight different parent members that help with the coat drive, the hockey equipment drive… a lot of the parents, not just on the committee, obviously help out as well,” she said, emphasizing that it's a group effort.
She also said as a parent and in her role on the board, it's important to see the players getting involved in the community.
“It’s great for the hockey players to have empathy and see that there is a need. Just outside of hockey, to be well-rounded individuals," she said. "There’s a need out there and helping others, I think it forms good character for the future. The idea is to raise good citizens.”
Through her work with YSE she said she is able to see the good in the community, both among the hockey families and beyond.
"“I can’t say enough about the York Region community. They seriously are a truly giving community. I almost get emotional about it because it does kind of get overwhelming a little bit to see how good people are," she said.
