The Donor: Ron Asselstine
The Gift: Creating Guelph Wish Fund for Children
The Reason: To help children with terminal illnesses
Ron Asselstine had just finished refereeing a 1984 Stanley Cup playoff game in Minneapolis when he happened to watch the local evening news. The newscast ended with a weather report by a boy who had a brain tumour, something he had longed to do and finally managed with the help of a local charity.
“They took him up in a helicopter and he was on TV and that was his ‘wish’ – to do the late-night weather,” Mr. Asselstine recalled. “I thought, gee that’s kind of cool. I just kind of put it in the back of my mind.”
When he returned home to Guelph, Ont., that summer, he talked to his friend Al Ferris about setting up a charity that would grant similar wishes. They created Guelph Wish Fund and held their first fundraising event that August – a softball game that raised $500. More events came later and soon the organization was helping dozens of sick children fulfill their dreams.
The group has raised nearly $3-million in total and granted close to 300 wishes including trips to Disney World and meetings with numerous celebrities including Wayne Gretzky, Dolly Parton, Kenny Rogers, Celine Dion and David Letterman.
Mr. Asselstine, who retired from refereeing in 1997, runs the charity out of his home with his wife Wendy (Mr. Ferris died a couple of years ago). He said he has been overwhelmed by the support he has received from celebrities, donors and people in Guelph.
He plans to step down from the charity this year and turn it over to a group of volunteers. “It’s going to be hard for me to give this up,” said Mr. Asselstine, 64. He recalled his own background, leaving high school to work in a factory and then lucking out with refereeing and getting a job in the NHL. “It sounds corny but it’s not,” he said. “I knew I had to give back somehow. I was living my dream so why not give back to some kid that’s a lot less fortunate than me, let them live their dream.”
pwaldie@globeandmail.com
