{"id":61505,"date":"2015-09-17T14:37:15","date_gmt":"2015-09-17T06:37:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=61505"},"modified":"2016-05-31T10:26:55","modified_gmt":"2016-05-31T14:26:55","slug":"p-k-subban-pledges-10-million-to-montreal-childrens-hospital","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2015\/09\/17\/p-k-subban-pledges-10-million-to-montreal-childrens-hospital\/","title":{"rendered":"P.K. Subban pledges $10 million to Montreal Children\u2019s Hospital"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"P.K.<\/a>
P.K. Subban (Photo from Subban’s official Twitter account<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MONTREAL \u2013 P.K. Subban says hockey fans will discover he\u2019s not the person many critics make him out to be and that his pledge of at least $10 million for a children\u2019s hospital should demonstrate his altruism.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I hear things about me being a selfish person or being self-centred or cocky or arrogant, these things don\u2019t bother me,\u201d the Montreal Canadiens defenceman told reporters Wednesday after handing over a giant-sized cheque to the Montreal Children\u2019s Hospital.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese people don\u2019t deserve a voice because they don’t know me, but for the people that know me, it\u2019s very easy to understand.<\/p>\n

\u201cMontreal has seven another seven years to get to know me,\u201d he said, referring to the eight-year, $72-million deal he signed prior to the beginning of last season.<\/p>\n

The hospital is calling the $10-million donation the largest philanthropic commitment ever made by a professional athlete in Canada.<\/p>\n

In recognition of the donation, the Children\u2019s officially inaugurated the \u201cAtrium P.K. Subban,\u201d a 486-square-metre, three-storey public space located at the heart of the hospital’s new facilities.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is really an amazing feeling to be here,\u201d said Subban, who will now become a spokesperson for certain fundraising campaigns and flagship events organized by the Montreal Children\u2019s Hospital Foundation.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am proud to walk in the footsteps of my idol Jean Beliveau by giving back to the community and feel privileged to be able to help transform the lives of sick children and their families.\u201d<\/p>\n

Beliveau\u2019s widow, Elise, also joined Subban\u2019s family at the news conference.<\/p>\n

The partnership with the hospital foundation will also see the creation of P.K.\u2019s Helping Hand, a fund dedicated to assisting vulnerable families financially hurt by a child’s illness.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of people don\u2019t realize that having a sick child often means one parent has to stop working, and it becomes tough to make ends meet,\u201d said Subban, 26.<\/p>\n

\u201cP.K.\u2019s Helping Hand is dedicated to making sure that these parents don\u2019t have to worry about paying for necessities like food and medicine and can instead focus on what\u2019s most important: helping their child get well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Subban noted that his father was an educator for 30 years and that his two sisters and one of their husbands are also teachers.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m surrounded by educators and people who give more than they receive every day,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m surrounded by people who put others ahead of themselves so that\u2019s all I\u2019ve known in my life.\u201d<\/p>\n

His father Karl Subban said in an interview he\u2019s proud of his son \u2013 as a hockey player but also as a person.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know about his abilities on the ice and now we\u2019re knowing about his character off the ice,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Subban\u2019s father was asked if his son would make a good team captain for the Habs, who will name one before the regular season starts.<\/p>\n

He didn\u2019t tell reporters what they were hoping to hear.<\/p>\n

\u201cI worked in a school 25 years as a principal and I was a leader because a leader helped people to grow and get better and that\u2019s how I see P.K.,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s how I want him to be, not so much caught up in a title, but just be a leader.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not what you get in life, but it\u2019s what you give… that\u2019s what teachers do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Subban called the huge donation \u201csignificant and bigger than any other athlete in Canada has ever done.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said the money was not about accolades, but about giving back to a city that’s given him so much.<\/p>\n

Subban, who was drafted by the Canadiens in 2007 and won the James Norris Trophy as the NHL\u2019s best defenceman in 2013, is entering his sixth full season with the team.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MONTREAL \u2013 P.K. Subban says hockey fans will discover he\u2019s not the person many critics make him out to be …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":61506,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37,44],"tags":[35],"class_list":["post-61505","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","category-sports","tag-original","mauthors-peter-rakobowchuk","mauthors-the-canadian-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61505","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61505"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61505\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61506"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61505"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61505"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61505"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}