Gavin Giroux has coloured his Ottawa Senators homemade calendar for charity this season.

The six-year-old son of Senators winger Claude Giroux and his wife, Ryanne, was a big hit with Ottawa fans after the organization put his 2025-26 calendar of the club schedule, done with crayons, up for sale at the Canadian Tire Centre last weekend.

While Gavin normally displayed this calendar on the refridgerator at the family home, a slap shot from the Canadian Tire Centre, Claude and Ryanne encouraged their son to lend a hand this time with a portion of the proceeds going to the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario and the Snowsuit Fund.

Working with the Senators Community Foundation, Gavin also asked that some of the money raised give children access to hockey.

The Senators organization had 1,000 copies of the calendar printed and sold some on the concourse during a home game against the New York Islanders for $20 each. Claude even stopped by to say hello before the contest.

Six hundred of the calendars, printed for free by Lowe Martin, have been sold, meaning $12,000 has already been raised. The other 400 are available for sale at through the website of the Senators Community Foundation.

This project has become an annual labour of love for Gavin, with assistance from Ryanne, and this was another way to help the community.

Make no mistake, Claude and Ryanne are proud of all three of their children, and they have every right to be pleased with Gavin’s gesture. Gavin and his brothers, Palmer and Charlie, love spending time at the rink, and you can often see them and their mother in the penalty box during the warm-up.

“I’m very proud of him,” Claude Giroux said before the Senators faced the Philadelphia Flyers at home on Thursday night. “He worked a lot of hours doing that. He would be pretty dialled in at night, going through the schedule and doing it.

“And my wife worked really hard with him, too. I’m really proud of them, and for a six-year-old to do that, and how much he was dedicated to it, and it’s going to a good cause, also, it’s great.”

Not only is the calendar cute, it’s also creative, well done and, mostly, fun for fans of all ages. It includes the logo of each Senators opponent and helps the Giroux home team track their father’s busy regular-season schedule. Claude came home to the National Capital Region to sign with the Senators before the 2022-23 campaign after playing 1,000 NHL games with the Flyers and a short stint with the Florida Panthers.

Gavin noted in a video on the Senators social-media channels that he spent about 45 minutes on each page in the calendar.

“I think he did it about two years ago, and we put on the wall, and pretty much started looking at it every day,” Claude said. “We’d look at it, and say, ‘OK, when does daddy play?’

“Last year he did it again, and this year he stepped it up a little bit. I feel like it’s going to be something that he’s going to want to do every year.”

Gavin has a passion for the project, and that’s why it’s successful.

“He likes drawing, colouring and doing all that kind of stuff,” Claude said. “It was (Ryanne) who had the idea to make the calendars, and he rolled with it. It’s been good.”

The decision to give CHEO a hand was something Claude and Ryanne suggested.

“When we brought it up to him, he got really excited about it,” Claude said. “It shows Gavin how he can land a hand, and the money is going to a good cause. That’s exciting for him, and us.”

The good people who run the Senators Community Foundation are thrilled with the initiative from Gavin and his family. When they were approached to give an assist in making this a reality, the Senators were more than willing to help.

“It’s incredibly inspiring to see a young person like Gavin take the initiative to help others entirely on their own,” said Jacqueline Belsito, the president of the foundation. “He wasn’t prompted or asked — he simply saw a way to make a difference for other kids. He asked for our help, and we ran with it.

“When a child shows that kind of heart, the Senators Community Foundation is proud to stand behind them and help bring their idea to life. It’s a powerful example for others of how kindness and creativity can create real impact.”

You have to tip a crayon to Gavin and his family for the gesture.

bgarrioch@postmedia.com

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