Whitehorse, YT – During a part-time job at a hockey shop in Vancouver, Cameron Lee, noticed a mountain of second-hand sports equipment being discarded but saw more than just gear – he saw potential.
At age 14, Cameron founded Sports for Support in 2022 to make sports more accessible to youth.
In December 2023, he received a call from the father of a player he used to coach. The caller was an employee from the Vancouver Canucks; the team wanted to make a donation.
Cameron received 16 boxes of new youth hockey gear.
His decision to bring the gear North started in 2021 during a hockey tournament that sparked relationships with coaches and staff from the Whitehorse Minor Hockey Association.
“I came to understand that gear up here can be pretty scarce, especially new equipment,” said Cameron. “So, you could say I’ve always had my eye up here.”
When Cameron was eight, he faced significant health issues and underwent multiple kidney surgeries. For him, sports offered physical and emotional resilience, which drives his desire to share it with others.
“Sport was my way of navigating through those challenges,” Cameron shares. “It’s something I’ve carried forward throughout this journey.”
With the help of Air North, Cameron flew the boxes of sports gear to Whitehorse. Upon landing, he met with politicians like Premier Ranj Pillai and officials from the Whitehorse Minor Hockey Association and Hockey Yukon.
The donated gear is now being distributed to families in Whitehorse and remote communities across the territory.
“I’m just enjoying this ride, and at the end of the day, our philosophy is always going to be to empower youth by providing them with this equipment whether it’s inside the borders of B.C. or outside the borders of B.C.,” said Cameron. “That’s what I’m hoping to do.”
