Bert Faibish
Ticats.ca
This Saturday, Marwan Hage will be hosting 40 minor football players and coaches from his native Montreal.
“This is a special group, it’s the Sun Youth organization from downtown Montreal, the same place where it all started for me,” said Hage.
“I sponsor this team and they won the championship so I thought it would be cool if I brought them down to a game and let them experience the whole trip; Train ride, hotel, food and the game,” he said.
It’s a special thing for Hage to be able to bring players from his old minor football league to a game, a chance that he jumped at when he heard they had won a championship. The team will take the train from Montreal to Hamilton thanks to VIA Rail.
“It’s exciting for me, it’s a lot of fun and it means a lot to me to be able to bring these kids here,” said Hage.
“There are ten chaperones coming down with them and these guys are either people I played with when we were kids or guys that coached me, so it’s a lot of fun,” he said.
Since its inception in 2007, more than 2,500 kids have participated in the Hage’s Heroes program, and more than 3,500 families have received food hampers at Thanksgiving. Hage’s Heroes has also given more than $10,000 to various local charities in that span.
