The CJFL takes pride in hearing when players of a team give back to their community. These acts of kindness often go unnoticed however one particular player for the Ottawa Sooners is making a major impact in the nation’s capital and it is important to highlight the work done by Cedric Abu-Zahra.  

At the beginning of the season Cedric laid out a plan to be more active in his community and the 20-year-old has done just that.  He provided the CJFL with an update on his inspiring community service. 

Last year’s Past Commissioners award recipient, Danny Espinoza Mattoon (Edmonton Wildcats), really motivated me to get more involved with the community and represent my team, my city, my name, my country, etc. Since January I have done many things that, I feel, are worth mentioning. It isn’t in my nature to speak about myself to people who I’m not very close to, but I hope I’m able to motivate someone else to take initiative in their community just like how Danny motivated me.

To start off, I founded a non-profit charity organization named “Help Kids Be Kids” which raises money for the children's hospital. I organized a fun day for a fundraiser, spread the word and funded it by myself. I hired a DJ, had a face painting table, board games, basketball arcade game, got together a respectable raffle and even got the hospital’s mascot to come. All this was being held at Montana’s BBQ and Bar in June. I also got high school students to help in exchange for volunteer hours. At first it was supposed to be a one-time event, but as I got closer to the day, I didn’t want the fun to end and decided to make it an annual event. It was a success, my goal was to raise $2000, which I surpassed and finished with $2435.10. As of right now, I am planning something bigger for next offseason and trying to keep Help Kids Be Kids involved.

I also helped coach a grade 7-8 girls flag-football team and a grade 7-8 boys touch-football team from the end of April to June, at my old high-school, helping some of my old coaches attending one practice per day. Both teams went undefeated in the regular season. It was my first year with the girls team and my fourth year with the guys.

The Sooners were also involved in the community, and I was there for all the events. I went to visit both Woodroffe and Notre-Dame High-School to help grow the sport of football. I was in the gym coaching the wide receivers and would try my best to help out during the defensive back drills. We also went to both the YMCA in Rockland Ontario and the one in downtown Ottawa for march break camps. We did less football drills and more football related activities like British bulldog, the gauntlet, etc. I had the responsibility to include the French speakers as well as helping run the games and encourage the kids. We also went to a retirement home for a social event with some of the residents. We got to sit and talk with about 10 retired men for about an hour and a half. It was a nice feeling representing the Sooners off the field.

With Help Kids Be Kids having gone so well, a classmate of mine from the University of Ottawa reached out to me to help set up another event for the children’s hospital. Although I didn’t do nearly as much as my own event, it’s still something I’m very proud of. I had done enough to be known as someone with a good organization and influenced someone else to get involved. I helped her start her event and spread the word. I got her in contact with the hospital and made her a page to send money to the hospital like I had done for mine. She had a car meet planned and her event was a success as well.

I want to make it clear that I did not make any sort of financial or material profit and was never forced by anyone to do any of the activities. I did it because I have to represent Ottawa, I have to represent the Sooners, I have to represent French-Canadians, I have to represent the name Abu-Zahra which also represents the Arab and Palestinian community, I have to represent Canada, and hopefully get more people my age to start getting involved in their communities. I also did it because I was fortunate to have a healthy childhood and wanted to do my best to ensure that every kid could get out of the hospital as quickly as possible and go back to being kids. I also remember the 20-year-old volunteers making my day at camps and practices growing up, to be honest they might be one of the reasons why I love and still play sports today.

It's an incredible inspiring story and the CJFL applauses the community engagement done by Cedric Abu-Zahra of the Ottawa Sooners.  Keep up the great work!