GEORGETOWN’S KINGO REPEATS AS OJHL HUMANITARIAN OF YEAR
March 28, 2023, Mississauga, ON – …. Mikael Kingo of the Ontario Junior Hockey League’s Georgetown Raiders is the recipient of the OJHL’s Humanitarian of the Year award for 2022-23, the league announced today.
The award is presented annually to the player “judged to have made the most notable contribution to his community in a humanitarian sense, included, but not limited to charitable work, school visits and extra-curricular off-ice activities”.
It’s the second straight season Kingo has received the honour.
The Georgetown goaltender is best known for his work with the Angel Project. The charity was founded in 2008 by his mother, Lisette Kingo, after she visited Parkwood Hospital in London, ON where a family member worked. The family lived in Strathroy before moving to Burlington when Mikael was 4.
“My family wasn’t really well off but we decided for Christmas that year instead of us getting gifts we would give our money to contribute to the patients at the hospital,” Kingo told The OJ Today TV show. “That’s how it started and it’s just flourished and grown out into an amazing organization.”
Now, the Angel Project helps buy everything “from a $2,000 wheelchair to a $1 toothbrush,” as Mikael puts it. The Kingos and friends are filling gaps for purchases not fully covered by government funding.
Complicating things this year, Lisette became ill and had to be hospitalized herself.
“We’re still trying to help as many people as we can,” Mikael said. “And my mom has been doing a lot better.”
Stepping in to help have been the Toronto Titans of the GTHL. The minor hockey players organized the project’s storage unit in Burlington and sorted items for delivery to hospital patients before Christmas.
The project assists with basic needs such as soap, shaving cream, shampoo and even simple comforts such as stuffed animals, soft blankets or gifts for patients at Joseph Brant Hospital in Burlington and Parkwood.
The Angel Project also arranges patient outings and assists with the purchase of equipment, including wheelchairs, voice boxes and speech computers.
“Many patients spend decades in complex care units in hospitals and will never go home again,” Lisette said on theangelproject.ca website, “accident victims, MS, ALS patients and others who have been left without tools and the finances to fend for themselves and have been abandoned by their families and society. Hospital foundations are wonderful, however they have such a large need to fill that the social agenda and complex care units are often left to the last.”
To help raise awareness and funds, Mikael launched a hockey tournament nine years ago, to “skate for those who can’t.”
Overhead costs at the Angel Project are nearly non-existent.
“It’s fully volunteer and that's one thing that makes our charity pretty special,” said Mikael, the OJHL Warrior Goaltender of the Month for November 2022. “It runs from the heart, not by people trying to make money or make a career out of it. Just everyone trying to help other people.”
“A lot of people love to receive gifts but the power of giving is a much better feeling. It’s just taking the time to put some work in, and I think that goes for every aspect of your life.”
The Raiders held an Angel Project fundraiser in December, collecting donations for a hospital bed for a 12-year-old boy.
You can help the Angel Project by attending its fundraiser, ‘A Party Straight From The Heart’ at Club 54 in Burlington on May 5. Music will be provided by Martha Rocks, “the doctors who saved my mom’s life,” Mikael said in a Tweet. Tickets are $30 and available via eventbrite.com
Mikael launched another program on his 15th birthday that annually provides goaltending equipment to one young player in need.
“When I was young, I was in that same situation,” he told the OJHL. “Now, I really have everything I need.”
Kingo, who will turn 19 on June 22, is still looking for nominations of goaltenders in need of assistance for this year’s event. On his birthday, Mikael will surprise the recipient with new gear, time on the ice and dinner out on him. You can email nominations to: mikael@Kingo.ca
Kingo will be honoured along with the other OJHL award recipients at a ceremony before Game 1 of the OJHL Nutrafarms Championship Series in late April. The OJHL is announcing its 2022-23 award winners throughout the first three rounds of the playoffs.
TOMORROW: Trainer of the Year
About the OJHL – “League of Choice”
The Ontario Junior Hockey League is the largest Junior ‘A’ league operating under the auspices of the Canadian Junior Hockey League with 22 member clubs. A proud member of the Canadian Junior Hockey League and Ontario Hockey Association, the OJHL was originally named the Ontario Provincial Junior ‘A’ Hockey League and it was formed out of the Central Junior ‘B’ Hockey League in 1993-94. With a long and storied history of developing players for the next level, including U SPORTS, the NCAA, CHL, minor pro ranks and the NHL, the OJHL had more than 90 NCAA, U SPORTS, CHL and professional commitments in 2021-22 – including more than 25 NCAA Division I scholarships.
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