Tim Hortons is donating over $215,000 to the Hockey Canada Foundation’s Hockey Is Hers campaign, which is focused on recruitment and retention of girls in hockey, the development of female coaching, and supporting Canada’s National Women’s Team.
Last November, Tim Hortons teamed up with Barbie and hockey stars Marie-Philip Poulin and Sarah Nurse to launch Tim Hortons Hockey Barbie dolls. The partnership was aimed at showing girls that they can be anything, including a hockey player. Tim Hortons committed to donating 100 per cent of net proceeds from sales of the dolls in restaurants to the Hockey Canada Foundation.
Tim Hortons was excited to launch the partnership based on the recognition that girls are underrepresented in youth hockey. Through the Tim Hortons Timbits Minor Sports Program, hundreds of thousands of kids across Canada aged four to nine are provided with opportunities to play house league sports, with a philosophy based on learning a new sport, making new friends, and just being a kid. But traditionally when it comes to Timbits Hockey, only 18 per cent of players are girls.
“We’re proud that the sales of the Tim Hortons Hockey Barbie dolls in our restaurants will help young girls get into the sport and also provide resources to grow and support the women’s game,” said Hope Bagozzi, Chief Marketing Officer at Tim Hortons. “We’re happy to support the Hockey Canada Foundation’s message that ‘Hockey Is Hers’ and that the sport belongs to girls and women everywhere.”
With the 2021 IIHF Women’s World Championship recently taken place in Calgary and Team Canada bringing home the gold medal, Tim Hortons wanted to remind girls watching that they can achieve their dreams and could one day compete on a world stage just like their heroes.
“This partnership was all about inspiring young girls to follow their passions and dream big,” said Poulin. “We too were inspired by the amazing energy and enthusiasm of girls and hockey fans who supported the spirit of the Tim Hortons Hockey Barbie®.”
“What inspires me is giving the next generation of little girls somebody to look up to,” added Nurse. “I want to be a role model for someone who looks like me who can think, ‘If she can do it, so can I.’ That’s why it was such an honour to have inspired a Barbie Doll, one with brown skin who plays hockey. Hearing stories and talking to people who got the Tim Hortons Hockey Barbie and were inspired by the campaign is amazing.”
Tom Renney, CEO of Hockey Canada, said the donation from Tim Hortons will help young players develop a lifelong connection with the game.
“Girls and women have long been a crucial piece of the mosaic that is Canadian hockey. While we are proud of the intangibles the game offers to better the women who play it, we must also recognize the benefits they bring in raising hockey to a higher level. This is especially true behind the bench, where increasing the number of female coaches will provide role models for young girls, keep them in the game and increase the likelihood of staying involved as coaches themselves when their playing days are done,” said Renney.
SOURCE Tim Hortons