The Electric City Special Needs Team Just Made 300 Candles To Help Raise Money For The Team & Build Team Chemistry
/The Electric City Maroon & White special needs hockey team gathered at Coach Chris Williams house on Saturday (September 29th) for a candle “pouring party” of 300 homemade candles.
It’s a new fundraising initiative that began with the creation of the “Electric City Candle Company” to assist with the costs of running a special needs sports organization such as ice time, equipment and travel costs.
Candle pouring party at Coach Williams house
“I came up with the idea after seeing a Facebook video on a young girl with Down syndrome who started her own candle company in New Zealand,” Coach Williams tells PTBOCanada. “I reached out to them for advice and was given some great feedback and encouragement on how to get everything off the ground.”
Candle pouring party at Coach Williams house
With very limited financial sponsorship, the money made through the sales of these candles will help the team but more importantly give the opportunity to kids and adults with special needs to be directly involved with the creation and distribution of something beautiful, a product they made from scratch.
“For me, the initiative is important because it gives the players a sense of pride of accomplishment,” Coach Williams says. “They voted on what scents we would use, the dye colours, and of course were involved with the creation of the candles from start to finish.”
Coach Williams (at right) with one of his players
The theme of the 300 handmade soy-based candles made is “Shining A Light On Special Needs”.
It gives the players a chance to get together in a social setting and work together as a team to learn skill sets and build chemistry and confidence—ingredients that will ensure they all have a great season on and off the ice.
One of the players at candle pouring party
The Mason jar style 8.5 oz candles will sell for $10 and are handmade with a focus on seasonal Fall/Winter/Christmas scents including Winterberry, Christmas Garland and Warm Vanilla Sugar. There will be a total of nine different varieties available.
“If we sell the initial trial run of 300, that will give us the chance of getting together again and doing another 300,” Coach Williams tells PTBOCanada.
One of the players at candle pouring party
