Who stands 6-5 tall, weighs 210 pounds and can’t help but smile while posing with a golden retriever?
How about Winnipeg Jets’ captain Adam Lowry, who can be found grinning in the pages of the 2025 Jets Pets calendar — now on sale to raise funds for D’Arcy’s Animal Rescue Centre.
The limited-edition run of 1,600 calendars feature a dozen pictures of Jets players posing with their own pets and adoptable cats and dogs from the no-kill animal rescue on Century Street.
TYLER SEARLE / FREE PRESS
Kiera Pionk (left) with Destiny Samberg at the launch of the 2025 Jets Pets calendar at the Canada Life Centre on Nov. 9, 2024. The calendar is raising funds for Winnipeg animal rescue D’Arcy’s ARC.
“These animals, it just breaks your heart, because they are so sweet and they deserve loving homes,” said Destiny Samberg, wife of Jets’ defenceman Dylan Samberg, who adopted a golden retriever from D’Arcy’s ARC last month.
“I saw her… and I was literally in tears already.”
It was love at first sight for the couple, who brought the roughly one-year-old dog (originally named Coraline) home and named it Bennie — a nod to the Elton John’s 1973 hit song Bennie and the Jets.
Destiny Samberg was one of several Jets spouses who gathered at Canada Life Centre Saturday, ahead of a matinee game against the Dallas Stars, to celebrate the launch of the fundraiser.
Among them was Kiera Pionk, wife of Jets’ defenceman Neal Pionk, who helped organize the initiative.
“It’s just very fulfilling and very rewarding,” she said. “It’s easy to be consistent helping animals… it feels good to do good.”
Kiera Pionk is a long-time volunteer with the shelter, where she does everything from walking dogs to cleaning kennels and helping with animal intake. She began working there in 2019, when her husband was traded to the Jets organization from the New York Rangers, she said.
“I’ve always been interested in animals and children and I thought (volunteering) was the best way for me to dip my toes into the city because I didn’t know anything about Winnipeg,” she said.
“I learned everyone is just so giving.”
It’s the second time the team has partnered with the rescue on a fundraiser. In 2022, the initiative sold-out its run of calendars and generated $19,000, said organization founder D’Arcy Johnston.
“These are a great bunch of guys. They are all energetic and very compassionate about charity, and especially with animals as well,” Johnston said. “It’s really good for our organization.”
Like the last time, all of the proceeds from calendars sold will go to D’Arcy’s ARC, which does not receive any government funding, he said.
Johnston also hopes the publicity from working with the hometown hockey club will boost adoption rates.
“We do see an uptick in adoptions during the calendar launch, and also, people who have seen their pets (featured) in the calendar and they come in to buy five or six to give out for Christmas gifts,” he said.
The fundraiser comes as many animal shelters in Winnipeg are grappling with capacity issues and feeling the strain of inflation, he added.
Last month, D’Arcy’s ARC Thrift Store on Main Street announced it would shut its doors for good Dec. 21, owing to rising costs and a dramatic spike in shoplifting. The second-hand store, located on the boundary of the North End and North Point Douglas, has raised money for the animal shelter for 16 years.
“It’s been tough,” Johnston said. “That means less funding for the shelter next year.”
The Winnipeg Animal Services shelter and Winnipeg Humane Society each said they were struggling to keep up with the number of animals in their care last month, owing — in part — to a significant number of animals surrendered by their owners after the COVID-19 pandemic.
High shelter rates have also caused a backlog of animals needing to be spayed and neutered, further exacerbating the problem, Johnston said.
On Saturday, Johnston and his team from D’Arcy’s ARC were unable to attend the calendar launch in downtown Winnipeg because they were at the shelter hosting a spay and neuter clinic. By the end of the day, they hoped to provide the service to around 20 animals, he said.
“We don’t have the manpower or the money to look after all of these animals so it’s a sad situation and a never-ending situation,” Johnston said. “So just get out there, support the charities — don’t shop, adopt an animal.”
The calendars retail for $19.99 and will be available at all Jets Gear locations and D’Arcy’s ARC’s 730 Century St. location while supplies last.
tyler.searle@freepress.mb.ca
Tyler Searle
Reporter
Tyler Searle is a multimedia producer who writes for the Free Press‘s city desk. A graduate of Red River College Polytechnic’s creative communications program, he wrote for the Stonewall Teulon Tribune, Selkirk Record and Express Weekly News before joining the paper in 2022. Read more about Tyler.
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