Champion for Charity Matt McHugh plans to paint the ring red — as in Red Team — on fight night By Jeff Hicks champsforcharity.ca WATERLOO — The sweet science of painting, like boxing, requires two-fisted stamina. “Strong forearms, steady hand,” said master brush-slinger Matt McHugh, one of Mandy Bujold’s 20 Champions for Charity who will enter the…
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Champion for Charity Beth Borody mines McMaster memories of her son Judah’s hospital stay By Jeff Hicks champsforcharity.ca HAMILTON — The race — The Cuteness 500 — was on. Judah, cherubic Bam-Bam cheeks with a blond Pebbles hair-do, pulled up to the imaginary starting line, IV stand in tow, on orange tricycle No. 24. Beside him, his…
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Champion for Charity Meghan Snyder recalls the ‘compassion’ of McMaster Children’s Hospital By Jeff Hicks champsforcharity.ca KITCHENER There’s a black band wrapped around Meghan Snyder’s heart. It matches the tattoo she got last year to sear the memory of her lost son Logan into her right bicep. Adorned by first-love lilacs, from Meghan and husband John.…
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From the Grammys to Champions for Charity, Thompson Tran in tune with helping kids in the ring By Jeff Hicks www.champsforcharity.ca KITCHENER — Beyoncé, wearing a rose-coloured designer gown and Egyptian goddess earrings, rolled up in a golf cart. “Right to the front of the red carpet line,” laughed Thompson Tran, recalling his B.C. rock…
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Jeff Van Gyssel turns life’s 2nd chance to his 1st Champions for Charity fight in the ring By Jeff Hicks www.champsforcharity.ca NEW HAMBURG — The radio crackled. Jeff Van Gyssel, drugs and a two-four in his pickup truck, lent a weary ear as heaviness suffocated the 28-year-old construction supervisor. Darkness engulfed him as he sat…
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Kyle Jackson promises a unique way of marking himself as a 2025 Champion for Charity By Jeff Hicks ChampsforCharity.ca OAKVILLE — Kyle Jackson has an empty patch of skin on his right forearm. It would be perfect for his 26th tattoo — an ink-etched tribute to earning a coveted place in the fundraising ring as…
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Allan Cayenne is ‘fired up’ to be part of the burning Champions for Charity legacy By Jeff Hicks www.champsforcharity.ca KITCHENER — Mandy Bujold swung the wooden mallet like a two-time Olympian looking for a knockout. Her boxing coach, Syd Vanderpool, held the spigot tight to the Oktoberfest keg as Bavarian beer flew through the Carl…
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Jaime Wilson, Champion for Charity, has ‘moving’ experience working with McMaster doctors By Jeff Hicks www.champsforcharity.ca WATERLOO — Jaime Wilson was frozen in a Iceberg Alley trance. A tall, North Atlantic popsicle — swirling azure hues glaring down over ferocious whitecaps of the Labrador Current — towered above the Cambridge native and her teammate. Their…
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20 Champions for Charity get the call to box for McMaster Children’s Hospital Foundation By Jeff Hicks ChampsforCharity.ca KITCHENER — Anne Filiatrault had painted herself into a unfamiliar corner. The Blue Team corner. “Oh, my gawd!” thought the 55-year-old landscape artist and illustrator as she read her email invitation to become of Mandy Bujold’s Champions…
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Twenty local professionals have made the cut to compete at the Champions for Charity Brawl at Tapestry Hall in Cambridge. The annual charity event has raised over $500,000 for McMaster Children’s Hospital, KidsAbility, and Scotland’s Yard (Grand River Hospital Foundation). WATERLOO, ON. November 28, 2024 – After two days of gruelling tryouts in November, Mandy…
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