Steve Karalis announced that his Pass the Puck Forward initiative will be continuing indefinitely on Wednesday, September 30, 2026.
Originally launched on September 1, as a one-month pilot project, the initiative encourages residents to pay it forward in a way that embraces Brantford’s longstanding hockey culture.
The idea is simple, yet effective. Customers can pass the puck forward by purchasing mini hockey pucks for $1 each. Purchased pucks are then moved from the “Give a Puck” jar to the “Take a Puck” jar, and anyone can ask to redeem available pucks toward a food or drink purchase.
“When you purchase a puck, you can choose to have the staff move it, but I recommend moving it yourself because that feeling of the puck and that little clank sound when it drops is just incredible,” said Karalis, with a smile. “But all the pucks in the ‘Take a Puck’ jar have been paid forward by someone in our community and they can be redeemed by anyone, no questions asked, at a dollar a puck towards their meal. Now, there is a maximum daily limit because we want to spread the wealth, but essentially we’re paying it forward to our community, our neighbours, maybe even the person standing right behind you in line. To me, this is what Brantford, our community, is about.”
The founder said the initiative has seen considerable community support since its launch just last month, saying that the businesses involved expressed they wanted to keep it going.
“The overall response has been amazing,” said Karalis. “We piloted it at five local businesses throughout the month of September and I’m happy to say that myself and our MPP, Will Bouma, announced just last week that all five businesses have agreed to keep it going past September indefinitely. The community was ultimately going to decide where this was going, and the response has just been incredible, so we’re happy to keep it going.”
While Pace’s Take Out & Catering, Mercasa Little Italy Eatery & Catering, Maria’s Pizza West, SWEET Bakery, and Altitude Coffee Roasters were all initially involved in Pass the Puck, a sixth has been welcomed into the program.
Seventh Coffee Company is now the sixth participating business, with the announcement made during the coffee shop’s grand opening on Friday, October 2.
“The idea was to keep this local with as many local business as we possibly can, and it’s just great because they’re all giving back to the community by maintaining Pass the Puck Forward, and allowing us to give back to our community members through them, so we’re very thankful,” said Karalis. “The cool thing is that, I’ve encouraged the owners and the staff at these local businesses to pay it forward on the house to anyone at their discretion. So if you’ve had a bad day in traffic and you’re chatting with someone, they might pay it forward to you just to make your day better. Or, if you had an incredible start to your day, they might do something on the house to make it even better.”
Karalis encouraged those who want to give back to stop by any one, or more, of the participating businesses and purchase a puck.
“There is no limit to how much you give back,” he said. “You can buy one puck, you can buy two, five or ten. We’ve even had people buy 40 which is just amazing.”
For those looking to learn more about the inspiration behind the Pass the Puck Forward initiative, visit: https://www.brantbeacon.ca/paying-it-forward-with-pass-the-puck-initiative/
Kimberly De Jong’s reporting is funded by the Canadian government through its Local Journalism Initiative.The funding allows her to report rural and agricultural stories from Blandford-Blenheim and Brant County. Reach her at kimberly.dejong@brantbeacon.ca.
