You don’t develop one of the top wrist shots in the game of hockey, win two Stanley Cups and an Olympic Gold Medal, score more than a hundred points in six different seasons, or enjoy a 20-year NHL career without getting the right start. Growing up in Burnaby, British Columbia, Joe Sakic never had to worry about where his next meal was coming from. Soon after Sakic and the Quebec Nordiques moved to town to become the city’s beloved Colorado Avalanche, Sakic and his wife of 14 years, Debbie, set themselves the task of making sure the same could be said for Colorado’s children.

The Sakics became involved with Food Bank of the Rockies in their second year in Denver. The couple wanted to give back to their adopted city and were looking for the right charity, not a simple undertaking, as Sakic says, “Every charity event is a great cause.” In the end, it came down to another passion of his: golf. “A friend of mine, Robb Caseria, who was with Coors, called me and asked me if I wanted to do a golf tournament for the Food Bank,” says Sakic. “I thought about it, looked into it a little bit and realized how important what they do for the community was.”

Food Bank of the Rockies serves the Denver metro area, northern Colorado and a portion of southern Wyoming. In this area, nearly 400,000 people are living in poverty, and 47 percent of them are children. The Food Bank distributes necessities to more than 1,000 hunger-relief programs as well as providing meals and snacks to schoolchildren and seniors. “We got to go to one of the afterschool boys and girls clubs earlier in the spring,” says Sakic. “To see how happy they are and how excited they are to get there from school and have a hot meal, to be able to do their homework and play around, it’s touching when you actually get to see it.”

Since that first year, the golf tournament and the dinner have developed into major fund-raising events, and the Sakics have grown into their roles as event planners and hosts. But if you know anything about Joe Sakic, you’ll know that he doesn’t do it to have his name in lights — or in a magazine, for that matter. He gives credit where credit is due. “We’re pretty fortunate that we’re able to go to the Sanctuary for the golf tournament,” he says. “And Inverness does a great job. Everyone helps out, all the sponsors. You can just tell that all the people who get involved with it really feel for it.”

We couldn’t let this hockey legend get away without asking about his decision to come back and play his 20th NHL season with the Avalanche, but he answers the question with his typical aplomb. “I just tried to work out in July,” he says, “and as August approached, I started to get that itch.” Could this be his last season? “I’ll decide next year.”

Regardless of the outcome of this hockey season — “We’re excited,” he says of the 2008 – 2009 Avs, “hopefully we can stay healthy and really get that chemistry going” — or Sakic’s decision to play year 21, we can look forward to the Sakic family being part of this community and part of Food Bank of the Rockies for years to come.