Gaudreau Family 5K raises more than $500,000 for playground

PHILADELPHIA — The first 5K held in the memory of John and Matthew Gaudreau helped raise more than $500,000, enough to break ground later this year on an accessible playground at the special education school where the hockey players’ mother works.

Thousands attended the Gaudreau Family 5K Walk/Run and Family Day in May at Washington Lake Park in southern New Jersey, a place John and Matthew went hundreds of times as kids and around the corner from Hollydell Ice Arena, where they started playing hockey. The 5K drew more than 1,100 participants in the walk, along with more than 1,100 virtually in the U.S., Canada and around the world.

From money raised in the walk, along with contributions made in memory of John and Matt, the financial goal was met for the planned accessible playground at Archbishop Damiano School, where Jane Gaudreau and her daughter Kristen work. It was a cause John and Matthew had begun to champion in honor of their grandmother Marie, who spent 44 years at the school and died in 2023.

Groundbreaking is scheduled for late August or early September, with Oct. 4 tentatively set for the start of a community build.

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After a brief scare of a tornado watch the night before, the 5K went off without a hitch.

“Because of the rain, we had so many people we thought might not show up,” Jane Gaudreau said. “But I felt like it was such a great turnout. So many people asked us if we’re going to do it again next year. It just such an outpouring of love and care, so much for the boys in our family.”

To answer the question, yes: The next Gaudreau Family 5K Walk is tentatively scheduled for May 16, 2026.

The Gaudreau brothers — John played 10 full seasons in the NHL with Calgary and Columbus — were killed last August on the eve of their sister’s wedding when they were hit by a suspected drunken driver while riding bicycles in their home state of New Jersey.

The playground initiative was launched by principal Michele McCloskey in October 2020. Raising the necessary funds over the past five years had been a slow build. So many friends from the hockey world and others now inspired by the brothers and the cause have since rallied around the effort.

“We heard so much from everyone how much they appreciated everything [the brothers] did for the community, and so they turned around and helped us out,” Gaudreau said. “We heard a lot of nice stories, a lot of people were just so generous, just wanting to be there for our family and whatever they could do to keep John and Matty’s legacy alive, which is what we wanted from the playground and to go forward from here.”

The Gaudreaus and the staff at Archbishop Damiano threw themselves into fundraising for a modern playground that allows for everything from basic wheelchair accessibility to ramps and transfer platforms for the students. Students tacked their wish list for the playground to the walls inside the school. The 5K event included an online memorabilia auction that stretched beyond hockey, with all proceeds donated toward the playground effort and its original $600,000 goal.

The new area for the playground has been staked out and the equipment has been ordered, yet there is still work ahead. The Gaudreaus and the school needed everything from 175 tons of crushed concrete to beach sand to other construction materials to complete the project.

“It’s just planning out our community build, which we’ll need assistance on,” Gaudreau said.

Archbishop Damiano School was founded in 1968 for children with Down syndrome and now provides services for 135 students with special needs from ages 3 to 21. Jane Gaudreau’s brother attended the school, and their mother worked there. Jane was hired in 1984 and is still a finance associate. Kristen, the older daughter, has taught at the school for almost two decades. Katie, the younger daughter, who got married in July, used to assist with the kids when she could, and the two Gaudreau boys volunteered at the school when they weren’t playing hockey.