“Car!”

Hayley Wickenheiser and the unsung heroes from Conquer COVID-19, the volunteer organization working to get personal protective equipment to health-care workers, shouted out the famous street hockey warning as their drive kicked off Saturday.

Wickenheiser was joined by about 20 volunteers from Conquer COVID-19, including Dr. Sohail Gandhi, head of the Ontario Medical Association, to greet donors as they dropped off donations at an indoor drive-thru at the XYZ Storage facility on Eastern Avenue in Toronto.

Before the drive even began, Wickenheiser was heartened by a $1-million donation that came from Thistledown Foundation’s Fiona McKean and Tobi Lutke, who are also the founders of the Canadian e-commerce company Shopify.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford arrivied in a pickup truck to drop off boxes of masks. Canadian Tire showed up with hand sanitizer, 2,290 masks, 100 baby monitors, and 200 two-way radios

Canadian movie star Ryan Reynolds, who befriended Wickenheiser when both were inducted into the Canadian Walk of Fame in 2016, joined the cause last week and made an appearance on Wickenheiser’s phone shortly after the drive kicked off.

“Canadians from coast to coast, from all over the world, come together every time … I’m just so proud, when I talk about this, I get choked up …,” Reynolds said from New York.

Hockey sticks were a part of Saturday’s drive, with volunteers tapping the sticks on the ground and shouting out “car” every time a donor drove into the facility.

“This is what you call a true Canadian sport, a true Team Canada,” Ford said. “This is how we’re going to get through the crisis.”

Wickenheiser, who is in medical school, joined Conquer COVID-19 last weekend after hearing from friends on the front lines of the pandemic. Since then, hundreds of thousands of masks and other PPE have been donated from Canadians everywhere.

“Our first donation today was a woman who drove through and dropped off two masks,” Wickenheiser said. “That helps a doctor or a front-line worker for two days. It means something.”

Considered one of the greatest Canadian hockey players ever, and currently the Toronto Maple Leafs’ assistant director of hockey operations, Wickenheiser also got help from Canadian snowboarder Mark McMorris, who donated $5,000 while kicking off a challenge for other athletes to match it. The first names on McMorris’s challenge were former Leafs Dion Phaneuf and Tyler Bozak and Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid.

Bobby Hastings, the Leafs’ assistant equipment manager, showed up with about 10,000 masks.

“He opened up his house, he did it quietly, like those guys (equipment managers) do, and just took in donations … he’s dropping them off to us now, another unsung hero,” Wickenheiser said.

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The Conquer COVID-19 team, which began with a grassroots effort from University of Toronto medical students and has grown into a group of more than 80, including doctors, lawyers and other volunteers, plans to work with Ford to distribute the PPE.

“We want to make sure we’re not duplicating the government’s efforts,” Conquer COVID-19’s Guri Pannu said. “If the government is helping at hospitals, then we want to get to long-term care homes … We know the need is great there, and we just want to help where help is needed, without the red tape.”

Ford promised to work with the team and to marshal trucks and aircraft, if needed, to deliver the PPE.

Wickenheiser stood before a half-dozen TV cameras to deliver the message of need and to thank everyone for volunteering. The six-time Olympian and four-time gold medallist has been moved by the donations and overall response to the PPE drive.

“This is the most important team I’ve ever played for.”

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