By Aaron Mahoney (@Mahones93 on Twitter)

April 7 to be known as Green Shirt Day in honour of the Logan Boulet Effect

Mar 1, 2019 | 12:07 PM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – A nation was gripped by tragedy on April 6, 2018, but now nearly a year later the memories of those lost in the Humboldt Broncos bus crash give rise to hope moving forward in the form of Green Shirt Day.

Logan Boulet was one of the 16 people killed when the Broncos team bus collided with a semi-truck on that day, and on April 7, 2019, Boulet’s family is launching Green Shirt Day in conjunction with the Canadian Transplant Association and Canadian Blood Services. It’s also dedicated to promoting organ donation awareness while honouring the Logan Boulet Effect that saw countless numbers of people across Canada and the United States become organ donors in honour of Logan who had done so himself a short time before his death.

The idea behind Green Shirt Day started off fairly plain, as Toby Boulet explained that he retweeted something that David Peckham from Live On Canada had posted on Twitter one day, followed him, and then the next day he received a phone call from him.

“From that conversation with Bernie and I, we set up another conversation and we worked through people that we trust and got some advice as to what they wanted to do. We made a couple of rules, one is that everything had to be vetted through us and another one is that the Humboldt Broncos need to be recognized throughout the whole thing. That’s why on the shirt, Humboldt Strong is above Logan’s name because he was a team player and the Broncos are the team.”

From there the Boulets worked through the process, and it just kept getting bigger and bigger.

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“People were coming on board, community and business partners, and it’s obvious that it’s not Bernie, Toby and Mariko that are driving this force. We’re here to support,” Toby said.

Logan’s mother Bernadine says they’re still just amazed at the outreach that people have given to them.

“How people have reached out from not only Alberta or Saskatchewan but across Canada. The Green Shirt Day website went live yesterday and almost instantly we had people saying, ‘where can we get our green shirts, what can we do’. Just the support we already see, and the impact. It was kind of funny because when we started, we looked at things and thought it wasn’t going to be that big.

“Logan’s the kind of guy that just stood in the background,” Bernadine continued before pausing due to the emotions, “It was not about him, it was about the team. He was the quiet leader from the background, so for Logan, this would be a lot and a bit overwhelming for him but we’re thankful what he started is going to be carried on.”

Early on following Logan’s passing, his parents decided they would try their best to go and speak anywhere they were wanted on behalf of organ donation awareness.

“It’s not about us, it’s about promoting organ donor awareness in Canada and beyond because we recognize that there are many, many people who are passing because there’s not enough organs to go around or they don’t match. That’s not what needs to happen, it has to be better than that. We’ve learnt lots about living donors, Logan is what’s called an angel donor,” Toby said breaking off a bit as emotion gripped his voice.

“We hope someday that angel donors aren’t required, that it’s all living donors or another system set up through the medical field but we’re not there yet. We’re prepared to do what people want us to do when we can go, our school districts, staff, students and friends have been extremely supportive to get us where we need to be. If someone wants us to talk, we go. It’s as simple as that.”

So, what will Green Shirt Day entail?

There will be a free family skate taking place first at the ATB Centre between 4:15 p.m. and 6 p.m. on Sunday, April 7.

Following that, the City of Lethbridge will light up City Hall in green in honour of Green Shirt Day, and people will be able to come down to check out the lights or just interact with friends and family.

The Boulets fly to Humboldt on April 5, where they will join the vigil and remembrance on April 6, as well as some different things that are going on with a lot of the other Bronco families who will be in attendance.

“We fly back on Sunday, April 7, and I’m not sure when the city turns the lights on, but I’m just hoping that people will come down and take a few minutes to reflect upon if they’ve had an organ donorship in their family or a passing in their family, that’s what I’m hoping for,” Toby stated.

The following day, on April 8, there are a lot of schools and districts in Southern Alberta and Saskatchewan who have contacted the Boulets about possibly running their Green Shirt Days then.

Lethbridge School District 51 and Palliser School Division have shown some interest, but Toby didn’t want to name the specific school names because they’re working through the process right now.

He did mention, however, that Humboldt Collegiate Institute and the Catholic School System in Humboldt will also be involved.

Anyone interested in purchasing a Green Shirt of their own can do so here, as the family skate on April 7 will only have 270 shirts (in honour of Logan’s #27) available for the first people who show up.

Support from the other Humboldt Broncos for Green Shirt Day has been very positive all along.

“All the families, survivors or not, have supported us in a variety of ways as we have supported them. We all have our own needs at the moment, and I sent out a message to all of the families two days ago informing them that this was happening just so they knew. The 29 Bronco families are all on board, but they also understand very clearly that we support and recognize that April 6 is all about the Broncos and April 7 is Green Shirt Day.”

The Boulet family is also asking people to light up social media with posts in their green shirts on April 7 to show support.