The Lac La Biche Boxing Club is running a hat campaign to raise money for the local sporting organization.
Jeremy Trimble, the club president and one of the club’s coaches, said people in the community can purchase either a baseball cap or a toque for $30 that is stitched with the Lac La Biche Boxing Club name. All the proceeds going to support members of the local club.
“You get a nice hat or toque from our club, and you can sponsor a boxer that way,” Trimble told Lakeland This Week.
Lac La Biche Boxing Club commissioned local business The Stitchin’ Man to make the hats and toques. Trimble says the club has received generous support and sponsorship from businesses in the community, especially when hosting fundraising events.
The club also works closely with the local chapter of KidSport. According to Trimble, the support provided by the non-profit organization has been pivotal in keeping the club running.
“Kidsport basically helps fund probably 80 percent of our boxers…without that in place, they wouldn’t be able to box,” he said, adding that the club has 38 registered members. “We’re very appreciative of Kidsport and the sponsors in the community.”
The club already had a box full of hats ready to go when the COVID-19 pandemic struck, meaning they didn’t go anywhere for a couple of years.
Trimble explained that he came up with the idea to send the young members of the club out into the community with the hats and toques in a bid to raise money.
“We just started this thing where if a person buys one, we take a photo with the kids and post it on Facebook…so and so sponsored this boxer,” he stated.
The Lac La Biche Boxing Club has been active in the community with various fundraising initiatives, including hosting a slo-pitch tournament for Lac La Biche Summer Days 2022, and a BBQ for the Walleye Classic which took place in June of this year.
The local boxing club hasn’t hosted a fight card since 2010, but is hoping to do so again. Trimble explained that such events are major fundraisers that also garner a significant amount of support from community residents and sponsorship from local businesses.
“Obviously, fight cards is what we want to do…because we want to showcase our local guys,” he said.
To date, the Lac La Biche Boxing Club has sold between 10-15, with many of these purchases coming from the parents of boxers, but also residents who have agreed to take some which in turn will be sold around the community.
Trimble doesn’t have a set monetary goal in mind for this fundraising initiative. In addition to selling the remaining merchandise, he says it would be great to bring in enough money to be able to help his boxers when they travel to fight cards.
“If I can raise enough to get these guys down to a fight card and put them up in a hotel for the weekend…that’s kind of the idea…you got to pay gas money and things like that,” he said. “So, it’s always nice to have something coming in to the club other than registration fees.”
Those wanting to purchase hats or toques from the Lac La Biche Boxing Club can contact Trimble through the club’s Facebook page. People can also stop by the club on Tuesday, or Thursday evenings between six and eight o’clock or Wednesdays until seven o’clock.
