About Us

What is "GO GARRETT GO?"

GO GARRETT GO is a fund raising initiative started by ten year old Garrett Holmes in the spring of 2010. People were asked to pledge a dollar amount for every touchdown Garrett either threw to someone (he was the quarterback) or scored himself during the spring 2010 Ontario Minor Football League (tackle) season (which ran from Mid may through to the first week of August: 11 games) as a member of the Halton Cowboys Atom team (in 2010, Atoms are those players born in 1999 or 2000 – Garrett was born in 1999). Garrett scored 15 touchdowns himself and passed for one more for a total of 16 touchdowns. People pledged $1,260 per touchdown, which multiplied by 16 touchdowns totalled…$20,352.

100% of all donations went directly to Children’s Miracle Network (the hospital of the donors choice ie: SickKids Toronto – Garrett’s choice since he was a patient there) or Free the Children, which was partnering with organizations in Haiti to provide emergency relief and to support rebuilding efforts.

What’s new for 2011?

Lots. For 2011 we’ve improved GO GARRETT GO – hopefully so we can raise more money!

The big news for 2011 is that this year Garrett is attempting to raise money in two sports at the same time. He is playing football and soccer this summer – so people can choose which sport they want to make a pledge for.

The second piece of big news is that we’ve changed the pledge format – instead of people pledging for every touchdown in football (or goal in the case of soccer) scored by Garrett – people are being asked to pledge for every touchdown in football or goal in soccer, that his team scores (his football team is the Halton Cowboys, and his soccer team is the Burlington Stingers). Why did we do this?

The success of GO GARRETT GO last year was the result of a lot of hard work by Garrett…and his teammates, because football is after all a team sport. In recognizing this Garrett wants GO GARRETT GO this year to reflect not only his commitment – but his teammates as well, since they worked so hard last year as well. That’s why we’ve moved the pledges to represent team scores.

To help people determine how much they should pledge, last year Garrett’s football team scored 27 touchdowns in 11 games for the season.

If they did the same in 2011, then if you pledge $1 per touchdown and Garrett’s team scores 27 touchdowns – your donation would be $27.00

In soccer, the team scored 40 goals last year in 14 games. In 2011 they will play 18 games. So if you pledge .50¢ per goal and they score 50 goals – your donation would be $25.

As with last year – when you pledge you can choose to “cap” the number of touchdowns or goals your pledge applies to.

Some people may still want to focus on Garrett’s performance as opposed to the teams – so to accommodate this also new this year is a “double up” option– which means that in addition to pledging a dollar amount for every touchdown in football or goal in soccer his team scores – they will double their pledge for every touchdown Garrett either throws or scores in football , or goal he scores in soccer (which won’t be many as he is a defender in soccer). In football, last year of the 27 touchdowns the team scored, Garrett scored 15 of them.

So – in 2011 if you choose to plege for football and pledge $1 per touchdown and selected the “double-up” option and Garrett scores 15 touchdowns and passes for 1 for a total 16 of of the teams 27 total touchdowns – you would donate $43 ($2 x Garrett’s 16 touchdowns plus $1 x 11 touchdowns the rest of the team scored).

100% of all donations go directly to Children’s Miracle Network (the hospital of the donors choice ie: SickKids Toronto – Garrett’s choice since he was a patient there) or Kidsport (the provincial chapter of the donors choice), a national organization made up of 188 provincial, territorial and community chapters raising funds to help remove the financial barriers that prevent kids and youth from playing organized sport.

Why is Garrett doing this?

Four years ago (he was 7 at the time) in the early hours of the morning on December 25th, Garrett suffered a severe seizure. He had no prior history of seizures. He was rushed to Oakville Trafalgar Hospital where he was non-responsive for four hours. Soon after he became responsive he had another seizure and at that point it was determined that he should be moved to SickKids Hospital in Toronto. After transferring to SickKids Garrett stabilized and was hospitalized for about a week. The doctors determined that a virus attacked Garrett which his system simply did not like, causing the epileptic seizure. While they believed the series of seizures was caused by a "one-time" event (this wonky virus) - no chances were being taken and he was put on anti seizure medication for 2 years.

Prior to the attack Garrett was very athletic and as a result had been told that he could play football when he was 8. That obviously changed as a result of the seizures. For the 2 years he was on the medication all he talked about was wanting to play football, which he obviously could not while on medication. Finally the 2 years were up and he was weaned off of the medication. Immediately he asked to play football. While we were terribly worried, our doctors reassured us that the seizures were not "hit" related - and that he could play. In the spring of 2009 Garrett played tackle football as a tyke for the new Halton Cowboys football team (it was their first year of operation as the Halton Cowboys). He, and the team, did "ok", with Garrett leading the team in touchdowns (he was quarterback and running back), scoring the first touchdown and recording the first victory for the Cowboys franchise at any level. In the fall, he played again, as quarterback, leading the team in scoring and more importantly to its first Southern Ontario Football League Championship (the first championship for the Halton Cowboys franchise at any level).

Garrett's brush with mortality at such an early age has made him keenly aware of how lucky he is to be able to play any sport, let alone one he loves. He also knows that many kids are not so lucky - something he saw first hand while at SickKids. His experience, is something he thinks about every day. He knows that "things" can happen in life and that you could wake up one day and not be able to do something you love to do anymore.

That's why he wants to "go" for the kids who "can't", to let them know there is someone who understands what they are going through and is on their team. That's why he thought of GO GARRETT GO. He wants to raise money to help kids who can't play because of sickness or poverty, in Canada and around the world.

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