Circle K donates $10,000 to youth sports organizations (3 photos)

Circle K hopes its $10,000 charitable donations to Sault Youth Soccer Club and Soo Minor Baseball will be the beginning of an ongoing fundraiser to keep local youth active.

The two local youth sports organizations each received $5,000.          

Circle K representative Tyler Ramsawack says that the money was raised by requesting donations at the cash register, with the offer of free coffee for each donation serving as an incentive for customers.

“These donations go to our Froster Active Kids program, which partners with other sporting associations, youth organizations, anything that keeps kids active,” 

Sault Youth Soccer Club President and Director of Player Development Steve Mazucca tells SooToday that his soccer club, which has up to 1,100 youth participating, offers a strong competitive program which requires extensive travel across the province.  

“We’re constantly travelling five to six times a year per team, so the funds obviously will help us a lot moving forward in regards to developing our program and assisting with costs, of course, because that’s our biggest issue right now, because the geographical area and the distance that we have to travel to get to our competitions,” Mazucca said. 

“It’s kind of overwhelming, because we all as non-profit groups struggle to keep costs down as much as we can for our participants,” said Soo Minor Baseball President Michael Lebel.

Lebel says that Soo Minor Baseball - which sees about 600 youth taking part - is also responsible for maintaining the seven baseball diamonds on the 24-acre facility at Sinclair Yards. 

“It’s going to go a long way,” said Lebel. “We can use this for equipment purchases, for field maintenance, for all ongoing improvements that are needed there.”

Circle K hopes to continue its charity work in Sault Ste. Marie through its Froster Active Kids program.   

“Right now it’s a pilot program that we’re only doing in Sault Ste. Marie and Ottawa to see if we can sustain it really,” said Ramsawack. “But the goal is to do this as long as we can in Sault Ste. Marie.”