BROOKS, AB (January 31, 2018) – The Brooks Bandits of the Alberta Junior Hockey League (AJHL) will raise funds and awareness for mental health on Saturday night at the team’s annual charity jersey fundraiser.
For the second straight year, the Bandits will raise money for the Canadian Mental Health Association’s Southeast Alberta division, by auctioning off special one-time jerseys that the team will be wearing that night.
The jerseys, designed by Matthew McElroy, who has designed most of the Bandits’ special and alternate jerseys, feature a modified version of the team’s new alternate logo which debuted this season on their third jerseys. It also features a prominent “Warr;or” wordmark, a combination of the word “warrior” with the modern mental health and suicide prevention symbol of a semicolon to replace the letter “i.”
The American charity Project Semicolon explains the use of that symbol: “A semicolon is used when an author could’ve ended a sentence but chose not to. You are the author and the sentence is your life.”
Below the “warr;or” wordmark is the slogan for the night; “Never Give Up”, a reflection of the lifelong effort often required of those who battle with mental health issues. Last year’s slogan, “Break The Silence”, focused on combatting the stigma around mental health discussions.
The Bandits’ special jerseys will once again feature green as a prominent colour, as it is both the traditional colour of support for mental health initiatives and the main colour in the logo of CMHA. Fans are encouraged to wear their own green clothing to the game on Saturday night.
The Bandits will take on the Whitecourt Wolverines at 7:00 PM, with tickets to the game available at tickets.brooksbandits.ca. The jersey auction will be held on the arena concourse, with bidding open until the end of the second intermission.
The team would like to thank Coyote Tree Ranching and the Full Circle Foundation for Wellness for making the night possible, as well as the Canadian Mental Health Association for their assistance in mental health programming for the night.