Thomas Chabot and Tim Stutzle are turning Senators wins into donations for CHEO, and they’re inviting fans to jump in behind them.
The Ottawa captain and alternate captain announced Saturday that they will each give $1,872 to the children’s hospital for every victory Ottawa posts this season. The initiative, run with the Senators Community Foundation, is being done in memory of Griffin Bell, a young Senators fan who died at age six after battling cancer.
With three wins already on the board before Saturday night’s visit from the Nashville Predators, Chabot and Stutzle had each already reached $5,616 in donations. The foundation has also set up a website, sens1872.ca, where supporters can make one-time gifts or pledge money for every Senators win.
“Chabby and I have been thinking about this for a while now,” Stutzle said Saturday morning. “It’s really exciting news.
We’re going to donate for every Sens win, and it’s for a great cause. We want other people to join us as well.
“That’s what this is all about: bringing the community together and supporting a great cause.”
The number 1,872 ties directly to the two players’ jerseys: Stutzle wears No. 18 and Chabot wears No. 72. Bell’s family - parents Tamy and Evan Bell - also played a major role in the effort, and the fundraiser is meant to support the CHEO Foundation.
“Every time we go to CHEO, it hits us pretty hard,” Stutzle said. “Everybody knows Griffy.
He’s been around the room. There’s no better guy to do it with than Chabby.
It hits him really hard as well, and he’s a family guy.
“When families go through something like this, it’s brutal.”
Chabot, who welcomed his first child, daughter Romy, with his wife, Marion, on Sept. 26, said the idea had been in the works for some time.
“We talked about it for a while and we were fortunate enough to get close with the Bell family,” Chabot said. “Griff was part of it. He spent a lot of time at the rink with us on practice and game days.
“When we lost him, we thought about trying to build something and we came up with this idea. We’ve talked about it for about the last year and we’re glad to finally be doing something with it.”
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