KO Hockey Night, scheduled for Feb. 3, is a fundraiser for the West Hartford school’s Team Tobati, a non-profit dedicated to improving the lives of disadvantaged youth in Tobati, Paraguay.

Submitted by John Nestor, Kingswood Oxford School

The KO boys ice hockey team will host Kingswood Oxford School Ryan Gordon ’05 Hockey Night on Saturday, Feb. 3 at Newington Arena.

Hockey Night was started in 2000 by Spanish teacher Ron Garcia, founder of Team Tobati, and then-boys hockey coach John Riley. Coach Riley had chaperoned a number of Team Tobati trips, and wanted to help find a way to raise money for the cause. Over the past 17 years, Hockey Night has raised more than $75,000 for Team Tobati, through the sale of tickets, concessions, and Hockey Night merchandise.

“Hockey Night is my favorite night of the KO year,” Garcia said. “The entire community comes together to support our hockey team and the people of Tobati. We take a night to have fun and celebrate each other and do some good in the world.”

Team Tobati is an all-volunteer non-profit organization dedicated to improving the lives of disadvantaged youth in Tobati, Paraguay, while at the same time offering hundreds of high school students from the United States the powerful experience of working directly for a greater good in the developing world.

With the active support of Tobati community leaders and organizations, the team constructs classrooms and schools, funds important social programs, and supports medical services and initiatives.

Each March, over 100 students, faculty, staff, and alums from Kingswood Oxford spend two weeks in Tobati working extensively on dozens of projects, which strengthen the medical and educational infrastructure offered to the region’s poor. But, the job is not limited to those two weeks. Team Tobati’s aid to the region is a year-round effort, financing significant development projects that make improvements in all areas of community life.

The Team’s mission is exemplified by the Macchi School. This institution, 100 percent funded by the Team, provides the best education in the state of Cordillera, Paraguay, and does so exclusively for the poorest students in the region. Today, a number of Macchi School graduates are attending college in the United States.

“It’s been tremendous to see so many people over the years help me help the community where my mom is from,” Garcia said. “It’s very humbling and inspiring.”

Ryan Gordon was born with VATER Syndrome, a group of birth defects that included a severely affected esophagus, which led to chronic lung disease but Ryan never let his health issues stand in his way. Even after over 40 procedures, he continued pursuing the activities he loved, including golf, managing the KO hockey team, and broadcast journalism.

After graduating from KO with honors, Ryan pursued the last of those dreams at the University of Central Florida. Toward the end of his first semester of college, Ryan knew he was very sick and returned home, where he was hospitalized on Thanksgiving Day. It was found that Ryan had squamous cell carcinoma, which he sadly succumbed to in February 2006.

Before he passed away, Ryan made it clear that he wanted his college funds to be donated to a number of Connecticut charities that he believed had helped him throughout his life and sickness, and Ryan’s Circle of Giving was born. This organization now gives a Team Tobati scholarship each year to a KO student who would otherwise not be able to participate in this program.

To learn more about Team Tobati, or to make a donation to support it, please visit www.teamtobati.org. To learn more about Ryan and his inspirational story, please visit www.ryanscircleofgiving.com.

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