Jan 28, 2015 | Maureen Whitehead | 782 views
Learning Experience
from the January 28th Beacon Herald.
Stratford Minor Hockey's minor peewee Warriors participated in the Gene Harrington Winter Ice Experience in Niagara Falls, NY this past weekend, but one of the best experiences took place away from the arena.
Saturday night the team ate at a small pizzeria, and a grandfather of one of the Stratford players decided to pay for the meal of a table of four that had been seated close to the team -- and the players got one of their first lessons in "paying it forward". Upon learning that it was one woman's birthday, the team serenaded her with Happy Birthday.
Later, as parents calculated their bill and collected money, they were informed by the waitress that a local patron had paid the entire bill anonymously.
"We were astounded at his generosity" team manager Maureen Whitehead wrote in an email. "So we decided, as another lesson to our boys, that we would still collect the money from each family and donate it somewhere in that town."
The team eventually learned that the anonymous donor was a US military man and he asked that a donation be made to the Highway of Heroes. So, the minor peewee Warriors will be making a donation of $268 to that charity.
"It was a really amazing experience for our kids", Whitehead wrote.