Ed Hand: Helping People One Hand at a Time

Ed Hand was a young man — 17 years old, in fact — who quit school after completing Grade 7 in Newfoundland to seek his fortune in Toronto.

Naïve to the core, Ed met every challenge and prank played on him with sportsmanlike good humour. Never before having been in a building more than three storeys high, Ed took off his shoes when he got out of the elevator of his first Toronto high-rise apartment so that he wouldn’t ruin its hallway’s plush carpeting.

Ed’s unabashed and enthusiastic approach to life propelled him up the ranks of two multi-store shoe chains before he was in a serious car accident that profoundly set him back physically, financially and emotionally.

But serendipity plays a big role in Ed’s life, and while there were times when the road was littered with personal trials and challenges, Ed stuck to his core beliefs, which include the principle that the more you do for people, the more it will come back to you in other ways; and, never give up no matter how tough the going gets.

“Ed understands that an opportunity can make a difference in a person’s life. It is when a person is at their worst and doesn’t think that they are going to get through it that something or someone comes along and gives that person the extra spark or faith that gets them over the hump. Those are the kinds of opportunities that Ed facilitates.”

— Darryl Sittler, former hockey captain and star of the Toronto Maple Leafs