The Boston Bruins Foundation and The Greg Hill Foundation have stepped to the forefront in the fund-raising efforts for injured Bishop Feehan senior hockey player A.J. Quetta.
Administrators at Bishop Feehan are asking that donations continue to be directed to the Bruins Foundation, which in conjunction with the Jacobs family already has pledged a minimum donation of $100,000. The foundation also is conducting a raffle of sticks from Bruins and other NHL players, and announced that all proceeds from its 50/50 raffles through Feb. 13 will go to the Quetta family.
Quetta, who is from North Providence, R.I., suffered a spinal cord injury when he went headfirst into the boards in a game last Tuesday night against Pope Francis at the Olympia Ice Center in West Springfield. Quetta’s father, Anthony Quetta Sr., told WEEI’s “The Greg Hill Show” on Tuesday that his son remains in critical condition and sedated. A fund-raiser through The Greg Hill Foundation had raised more than $145,000 as of Tuesday.
“The outpouring of support is incredible,” Anthony Quetta Sr. wrote in a message on a GoFundMe page originally started by the family, which had raised more than $750,000 through more than 11,000 individual donations as of Tuesday afternoon.
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“People have been unbelievable and my wife, Nicole, and I are grateful. We would like to thank the doctors, nurses and first responders for their extraordinary efforts to help our son. We can’t thank everyone enough for all the heartfelt messages of support.”
The Jim Gormley Cup — a four-team tournament usually played in December at Gallo Arena in Bourne — announced its annual scholarship will continue with the creation of The A.J. Quetta Scholarship Fund. With no games this season, tournament director Fred Carbone said helmet decals have been created and already distributed to several teams, which are encouraged to make a donation.
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Multiple high school and college teams — many using the hashtag “#AJsArmy” — also have taken to social media to lend their support to Quetta, as well as the Bishop Feehan hockey team and the school community. Teams have posted photos of prayer circles, stick salutes, pregame puck pyramids that spell out “AJ”, and players lining up on the ice to form the No. 10 — Quetta’s jersey number for the Shamrocks. Many teams also have taken to hanging a No. 10 jersey behind their benches before games.
Bruins forward Brad Marchand also hung a No. 10 jersey with Quetta’s name behind the bench at TD Garden before last Thursday’s game against the Flyers, and the team and forward Craig Smith awarded the game puck in absentia to Quetta in the locker room after the game. A video released by the team showed Smith placing the puck in a locker with a nameplate and No. 10 for Quetta in black and gold.
In an e-mail Tuesday to the Globe, Bishop Feehan president Tim Sullivan acknowledged the support from both the Bishop Feehan and hockey communities, which has included several teams across the state making donations or organizing their own fund-raisers.
“The outpouring from the Feehan community itself continues to be amazing,” Sullivan wrote. “And the outpouring to A.J. and to our hockey team and to Feehan has been just as incredible and is so important and appreciated.”
In conjunction with Bishop Feehan, the Livforyou Foundation is selling “AJ’s Army” T-shirts, with plans to add bracelets and face masks. More official fund-raisers through Bishop Feehan are in the works for the coming weeks and months.
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To donate to the Quetta family, checks can be made out to Boston Bruins Foundation, 100 Legends Way, Boston, MA, 02114 (with “A.J. Quetta” in the memo line). All proceeds go to the Quetta family and are 100 percent tax-deductible.
Jim Clark can be reached at jim.clark@globe.com.