When Spirit of the Game was launched in 2013, it was helped by endorsements from celebrities such as former Canucks player Gino Odjick (third from left at back) and racing car driver Jacques Villeneuve. It was also able to attract some solid funding partners. Founder and chair Mike Campol (kneeling in front) intends to stay in his role for another year to get it back onto track financially before stepping back and letting a local director take over. Campol and his family recently moved to West Kelowna. (File photo)

More than five years since Spirit of the Game was established as a non-profit society to help less privileged children get involved in sports, the local group is going through some changes.

Mike Campol, the founder and chair, has moved to West Kelowna from Osoyoos, along with his wife Becky, who is also a director.

Meanwhile, some of the original sponsors have gone their own way, or in the case of Sears, have gone period.

At the same time, demand has increased sharply in the Osoyoos and Oliver communities that the society serves.

“Demand has gone through the roof this past year,” said Campol. “So we’ve spent probably triple this year what we did in any other year on individual kids.”

It’s with that backdrop that Spirit of the Game Society (SOTG) is holding a fundraising event this Saturday, Nov. 3 at the Sage Pub.

The burger and beer fundraiser starts at 5 p.m. and for $20, guests receive a burger and beer. There are also live and silent auctions to help raise funds for the society.

“We’re excited about this,” said Campol. “We’ve got some live music; the auction is exciting. There are really, really unique items in the auction.”

Among the items people will bid on are a wine tree, an Area 27 course driving experience, an original piece of art commissioned for this event, hotel stays and more.

Campol said the society has not needed to look for individual donations in the past because of its corporate sponsorships, but “just now we’re hitting the point where the bank account is becoming a bit concerning.”

Campol said he’ll likely stay at the helm for about another year to try to steer SOTG back onto track financially, before stepping back.

“I’m likely going to stay on another year in my role and then look for somebody within the board to step into that because I think boots on the ground are important for running the organization,” he said. “And my boots aren’t on the ground anymore.”

Besides Campol and his wife Becky, other directors are Cam Bissonnette, Brock Jackson, Gene Lockerby, Ryan Miller and Mitch Fritz.

Spirit of the Game was formed as a society in May 2013.

“When we got started, we had a pretty good leg up because we had some decent celebrity endorsements,” said Campol.

These included Gino Odjick, a former Vancouver Canuck, and Jacques Villeneuve, an auto racing driver. They helped earn the society both local and national media attention.

“Then we were really lucky because we ended up with some really solid funding partners at the time,” said Campol.

Besides Sears, there was Festival of Trees and then Area 27.

“Area 27 put us in a position for the last handful of years where we really didn’t have to go out and fundraise very much locally,” said Campol. “We always felt as a board of directors that having a healthy bank account, we wanted to ensure that other local charities were able to fundraise and we didn’t want to cut into that at all.”

More recently, Festival of Trees has changed its management and Area 27 “has kind of outgrown us,” and is dealing with more national charities, Campol said.

So SOTG will be looking for new corporate partnerships as well as grant opportunities, rather than focusing too heavily on individual donations, he added.

Spirit of the Game helps individual children from less privileged families get involved in organized sports by covering league fees and assisting with equipment. Some of the equipment is purchased through an agreement with Canadian Tire, while a substantial amount of used equipment is also donated.

But the society also helps young people in other ways, including assisting with school recreational field trips, and organizing leadership conferences.

“We have a deal that no child will be left behind by the school,” said Campol. “As long as the parents sign a permission slip, we will provide the funding.”

SOTG has also helped with other projects involving youth and recreation, including recently helping to resurface the playground at the Osoyoos Childcare Centre.

Because of the many ways SOTG has contributed, Campol has a hard time putting a number on the many children helped, but he estimates it to be “in the hundreds.”

Initially the focus was more on team sports, but it’s broadened to include any type of sport and other types of recreation.

“We try not to box ourselves too much,” said Campol.

One goal has been to try to get kids off their devices and to do something active, developing confidence and life skills.

Campol said he and his wife Becky handle the process for paying league fees and equipment, but other funding decisions are made by the board.

Directors cover their own expenses.

“The organization literally has no expenses unless we deal with marketing material or digital, but other than that, anything we do with our computers or phones, our time, nobody on the board is compensated or reimbursed for anything,” said Campol.

RICHARD McGUIRE

Osoyoos Times