Sabres Players Walk the Catwalk
What does the The Steadfast Foundation and Carly’s Club at Roswell Park Cancer Institute have in common? That would be Buffalo Sabres goalie, Ryan Miller.
The Steadfast Foundation was started in 2006 by Miller, and his father Dean, as a means of coping with their own personal experience with Lukemia. Miller’s cousin Matt Shoals lost his battle with cancer in 2007 and Miller has done events since then to help patients with cancer in Buffalo, NY through Carly’s Club.
Carly’s Club is a division within a premier cancer hospital in Buffalo, Roswell Park, and they offer support programs to children and their families, including counseling, in patient kitchens, family support events, and more.
In 2007, Miller started the Catwalk for Charity and he would enlist the help of his teammates and the community and whatever funds were raised went straight to Carly’s Club. Ever year there has been a different theme for the Catwalk, including a Roaring 20s night and a Rock and Roll Night.
This year’s theme……..Cirque du Sabres. Each member of the Buffalo Sabres team would dress in costumes and walk down the Catwalk. Such costumes included a lion tamer and lion, bearded ladies, jesters, strongest man, and Siamese twins. There are also auction items to bid on which include anything from Sabres gear, winning a vacation, winning a puppy, and winning food and drink prizes. The event, which took place last night, would raise plenty of money through entrance fees and auction items and Carly’s Club was presented with a $50,000 check.
It doesn’t matter what goes on during the season on the ice for this team because they manage to come together year after year for a great cause. They are helping children cope with cancer and having fun with their fans in the process. Hopefully this trend will continue on, even if Buffalo loses Ryan Miller.
Photos from the event: (courtesy of the Catwalk for Charity Facebook Page)
I absolutely love this. The work that Ryan Miller does for Buffalo is outstanding. My sister is a nurse at Roswell Park and it is an amazing facility. His work through Steadfast doesn’t stop with the Catwalk nights, either.
Miller has always been, and will probably always be, one of my very favorite players. With all of the rumors swirling around him possibly being traded or not re-signing, I am happy to know that he is still able to conduct an event like this. My heart would ache for Buffalo to lose him as a player and as just a great person in general. I do agree with you in hoping that, if we should lose him, we would not also lose the annual events like this he does to help those in need.
I completely agree with you, and as much as I know he will eventually leave us, I do really hope it’s more in the future. He is an outstanding person and does great things for this community. We have many, many past Sabres players who still live in the area and do great things for us and I do hope that Miller will be one of those people so that we can continue to hold great events like this one!