Patrick Chan/Don Jackson - Japan Earthquake Relief Apr 2

[WildRose]

from Patrick Chan on Twitter:

Skating April 2, 7pm, at GM Centre in Oshawa with Don Jackson and Oshawa Skating Club to raise money for Japan Earthquake relief. Join me!

http://twitter.com/#!/Pchiddy

I don't see it on the arena event website yet - maybe someone in the area can check it out. I'm not sure if this is a show, or an opportunity to skate with Patrick and Don Jackson, but it's for a good cause so hopefully there will be more info available soon.

[kalamalka]

There's a club show which may be being repurposed. Don Jackson was touting it on the CBC show last Saturday, and saying that Patrick would be there if he could get flights - since of course it had been expected to be post-worlds, and I gather the commitment had been made some time ago.

From the Oshawa Skating Club website:
Oshawa Skating Club Carnival - Adventures in TV Land

Our Bi-Annual Carnival is being held Saturday, April 2, 2011 at the GM Centre. Tickets are available at the box office, on-line or by calling 1-877-436-8811.

See Special performances by 1962 World and 4 time Canadian Champion Don Jackson and 4 time (current) Canadian Figure Skating Champion and 2 time World Silver Medallist Patrick Chan.

[victorskid]

Yes - this is the club show which had been planned for quite a long time. Tickets went on sale before the earthquake.

Patrick was scheduled to be in Toronto post-Worlds getting choreography for the next season and this fit in with his plans.

As Don said in his interview, Patrick was still going to participate if he could arrange the flights from his training base. Kudos to him for doing this in the midst of his current pre-Worlds training schedule.

[WildRose]

That explains it - thanks all.

[googooeyes]

Patrick will be skating and donating his fees to the Japan Earthquake/Asia Tsunami Fund of the Red Cross. He is a remarkable person!
Here is the club info:

http://oshawaskating.com/ESW/Files/Carnival_2011.pdf

The show is this Saturday night at 7:00pm at GM Place in Oshawa. And don't forget about Don Jackson!

[l'etoile]

So nice of them to throw this event!

{{{{Japan}}}}

[Sylvia]

Patrick Chan to help Don Jackson celebrate birthday

Although neither has much memory of working together ever-so-briefly back when Chan was five, they would soon become close friends through a mutual coach, the now-deceased Osborne Colson.

That relationship, as it turns out, has made possible a huge celebration that's coming to Oshawa's General Motors Centre Saturday, which, ironically, happens to be Jackson's 71st birthday.
...
After spending much of the past 25 years in Ottawa as the executive director of the Minto Figure Skating Club, Jackson recently returned to his Durham roots with his wife Barbara, primarily to get closer to their family, which includes seven children and five grandkids.

Now living in Whitby and helping out with the club that gave him his start in Oshawa, Jackson used his influence to lure Chan for the show.
...
Chan is performing at the show free of charge, but has asked that funds raised go toward the Japan relief fund and toward a new scholarship being introduced in Oshawa in honour of Colson, his most influential coach.

This blog article says Chan is donating his fee:
Patrick Chan ready to skate for a cause

Chan is donating half of his skating fee Saturday night to the Canadian Red Cross efforts to help in the Japan Earthquake/Asia Pacific Tsunami aftermath and the other half to a scholarship fund in memory of his late coach Osborne Colson.

[The Accordion]

What a selfish jerk Chan is!

(just kidding)

[aaron]

Thank you very much Sylvia, for the great article link!

[galaxy]

Arigatou from the bottom of my heart, Patrick, Don and everyone involved.
So encouraging.

[googooeyes]

I agree!
http://www.tsn.ca/story/?id=360124
http://newsdurhamregion.com/sports/article/174448
http://www.thestar.com/sports/figure...ause-in-oshawa
http://www.cbc.ca/sports/figureskati...-donation.html

[Sylvia]

Globe and Mail article about yesterday's show: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sport...rticle1969074/

Chan calls Jackson an old family friend. One of Jackson’s mentors, particularly when he was a pro skater, was Toronto coach Osborne Colson, who was Chan’s formative coach. “I have this young Asian boy that I think is special,” Colson told Jackson before Chan had even hit his teenaged years.

But before Chan ever met Colson, he had met Jackson. Chan, born in Ottawa, signed up for some learn-to-skate classes (called CanSkate) at the Minto Skating Club, where Jackson was director of skating for many years. Jackson taught Chan how to do cross-overs when he was only five years old.

“I have a lot of good memories of Don,” Chan said. “He’s always a joy to be with, because every time I see him, he always has a smile on his face. So does his wife [Barb], and they’re really good people who really love skating. I really wanted to do this.”

Chan flew into Toronto on Friday and returned to his training base in Colorado Springs on Sunday.

“He’s a class act,” Jackson said, of Chan, who decided to forfeit his appearance fee, donate half of it to a club scholarship in Colson’s name and the rest to a Japanese disaster relief fund through the Canadian Red Cross. On Saturday night in Oshawa, Chan used the event as a training exercise, performing his short program to Take Five.

ETA link to photos of Jackson and Chan (thanks for posting the link at GS, SkateFiguring!): http://www.justinechiu.com/2011/osha...ting-carnival/

[clarie]

I hope someone was able to see the show and share their impressions .