Hockey Education Reaching Out Society (HEROS) is a volunteer driven charity that uses the game of hockey to teach life-skills and empower marginalized youth. It’s a fully subsidized program for kids and youngsters. What started as an idea twenty-one years ago has over the years culminated into a safe place for kids to learn life skills through the game of hockey. They now have 28 programs across twelve cities of Canada.
Our host and CRO Scott McArthur has also volunteered with Heros in the past and is very passionate about their cause. In today’s episode of One-to-One, he chats with Norm Flynn, Founder & President, Heros Hockey and Kevin Hodgson, Executive Director, Heros Hockey about the importance of building consistent community engagement.
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“At HEROS, we don’t look at community engagement from a short-term perspective. When kids come to play hockey with us, we continue to engage them with opportunities and mentors for life. We offer educational assistance, vocational opportunities, first-aid programs – things they might not have access to. It’s really about that long-term vision as opposed to the one-time-done kind of an approach.”
- Norm Flynn, Founder & President, Heros Hockey
“The communities that we work with don’t have a lot of resources. Unfortunately, the opportunities that do come their way are taken away due to lack of funding. Part of our success is sustainability as we’ve been able to maintain this really great track record and have all these measurements of success in place. We find it easier to get into new communities as can now show these success stories we’ve gathered over the years.”
- Norm Flynn, Founder & President, Heros Hockey
“For the most marginalized communities, you’ve to eliminate the barriers. When you do that, you increase the likelihood that the kids who need it the most are going to be there and the families who need it the most support their kids to join the program.”
- Kevin Hodgson, Executive Director, Heros Hockey
Statflo too works on the same principle of fostering better customer engagement through a seamless customer experience. Our platform helps businesses remove friction from their communication and outreach processes by cultivating one-to-one relationships with customers.
“The game of hockey is what will get those youngsters through the door but it’s the volunteers who will keep them there and keep them engaged. The child’s experience is really tied to the people they spend time in the rink with, so our volunteers are the secret sauce to our success and sustainability.”
- Kevin Hodgson, Executive Director, Heros Hockey
Similarly in the for-profit businesses, employees are any company’s foundation. If they are not sufficiently motivated, engaged, and convinced about the company’s values, the customer experience suffers. Leaders must invest time and resources in building a happy workforce that enjoys working for the business.
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To learn more about Heros and how to support their cause, please visit their website.
