Four-time Stanley Cup champ Howie Meeker will tee it up later this month in aid of Ladner-based B.C. Guide Dog Services.
"We can't give someone back their sight," says Meeker, "but you give them a guide dog and they go to school with the dog, they work, they play sports.
(They can do) everything you and I can do."
Meeker and his wife Leah started the golf tournament 15 years ago and have raised approximately $400,000 in total. B.C. Guide Dog Services relies on donations to cover the $37,500 cost of raising a guide dog so that visually-impaired people can access the canines for free.
In 2007, the charity named one of its puppies after Meeker. Howie the guide dog now lives in Port Moody with his blind partner Lynn.
Last year Meeker was awarded the Order of Canada, the nation's highest civilian honour, in recognition of his contributions to Canadian hockey and to charities like B.C. Guide Dog Services.
Registration is still open for the Howie Meeker Golf for Guide Dogs charity tournament on Friday, Aug. 24 at 1: 30 p.m. at Beach Grove Golf Club in Tsawwassen. Cost is $175 per player, which includes lunch and dinner.
More information is available at 604-940-4504 or www.bcguidedog.com.
