PODCAST: S3:EP23–Moe Hasham, Hockey 4 Youth

Join us for S3:EP19 of the Sports Philanthropy Podcast as Moe Hasham, Founder and Executive Director of Hockey 4 Youth, sits down with our host Roy Kessel, to discuss his experiences prior to founding his program, where his passion for growing hockey at the grassroots level developed and more.

Prior to founding Hockey 4 Youth, Moe spent over a decade holding various management positions in the corporate, public and non-profit sectors working on volunteer, community and employee engagement programs.

Most recently, he was with TO2015 (The Parapan American Games Organizing Committee) in Toronto where he managed teams who were responsible for volunteer engagement events and volunteer central planning. The Games attracted a record 23,000+ volunteers which is most ever during Canadian peacetime.

Moe’s passion for growing hockey at the grassroots level for at-risk children and youth is anchored in his own childhood story of playing minor hockey in Vancouver. He received donated equipment for his first season at the age of 6 and while he continued to play until he was 30, including for the University of Northern British Columbia, his true calling came in 2006 when he began volunteering as a hockey coach to at-risk children in the downtown eastside of Vancouver.

He believes that hockey can be transformational for new Canadian youth in high-risk neighborhoods. To that end, he secured partial funding for Hockey 4 Youth through the Ontario Provincial Government to expand programming to the second community in Toronto in October 2016.

Hockey 4 Youth is a charitable organization that provides new Canadian youth an opportunity to play ice hockey at no cost while learning invaluable life skills. Their mission is to increase social inclusion for new Canadian and high priority youth through their life skills T.E.A.C.H. (Technology, Entrepreneurship, Arts, Community giving, Healthy active living) program.