The Sheffield Steelers have organised a raffle to help Martin Latal’s extended family survive war-torn Ukraine.
Martin’s wife, Iryna, is Ukrainian and her family had to flee from Ukraine due to the bombing. 11 of her family members fled to the Latals’ family hometown of Mladá Boleslav.
Martin decided to look after his wife’s family and rented an apartment, paid for clothes, heating, and food without asking for anything in return.
The Steelers, upon being made aware of the situation, asked Martin if they could help by raising funds to look after the family’s “immediate care and future requirements.”
The club is raffling off Martin’s white away shirt from the weekend’s games in Belfast. The funds raised from the raffle are being donated to Martin and his family.
The winner of the raffle will also receive tickets to Sheffield Steeler’s next home game against Manchester Storm on the 27th March where Martin will present the winner with his shirt after the game.
The Steelers put out a statement in which they said: “Sheffield, the Latal family need the help of Hockey’s biggest family at this terrible time. We hope that once again we can ask for your support.”
The raffle will run until 9.00pm on Tuesday evening.