Montreal Canadiens stars lend helping hand to Kelowna charity

A Kelowna charity is getting a holiday lift from NHL stars with Okanagan connections.

John Perlinger has partnered with Kelowna’s Mamas for Mamas and Okanagan BMO bank locations to sell prints of an original drawing of Montreal Canadien stars Shea Weber and Carey Price.

The pictures will be sold at BMO locations in Kelowna and Westbank in celebration of the launch of Perlinger’s online charity marketplace, charitables.com.

“I felt like I wanted to do something more,” said Perlinger on the site’s founding.

“I had the idea for it, and was surprised that something like this didn’t already exist. We launched the website and now it’s just figuring out the best way to use it and get (traffic).”

The website is described as an online marketplace where you can buy and sell items with the profits being relayed to select B.C. charities. Perlinger hopes the site will help declutter peoples’ lives and bridge the gap between the re-sellers market and the charity sector.

Perlinger hoped that the picture would help get the word out about the new website.

He reached out to Weber through a mutual friend with the hopes of a signature. Perlinger said Weber jumped at the chance to support a Kelowna charity and then enlisted the help of Price.

The original charcoal drawing captures the pair’s gold medal win at the 2014 Olympics.

“I sent it to them and I got it back the very next day,” said Perlinger.

“I was super happy with how it all turned out.”

Coming from a family of five with a hard-working mom, Perlinger said he chose the Kelowna charity Mamas for Mamas because he deeply appreciates the work they do.

“It’s one of the ones that really hits home for me. They do awesome stuff and an amazing job with everything they do,” he said.

A timelapse video of the drawing’s creation can be checkout out on YouTube.