Ticats Labour Day Classic: Win or lose, a chance to beat hunger

The Labour Day Classic is more than a tradition in Hamilton, it’s a chance to give back to the community.

This year marks the 21st year of the Tackle Hunger campaign, a partnership between the Ticats, Hamilton Food Share, and Purolator.

The drive, which began months before the Labour Day Classic, aims to give back to organizations like Living Rock.

“The demand for support is higher than ever in history,” Julie Conway, the director of Living Rock said. “Hamilton is experiencing an affordability crisis. What that means is some of our donors are also impacted financially, so our donations are down [and] Hamilton Food Share donations are down.”

Which means there’s more than just one win to be had come game day.

“We beat them in the food donations — and the game,” Simoni Lawrence, a former Ticats player, said.

Last year, the game raised over 272,000 pounds of food, and organizers hope to break that record on Monday.

“Our fans do such a great job bringing non-perishable food donations and also bringing cash. They do such a great job that we beat the rest of the CFL by a wide margin,” Lawrence said.