Dan Mielke
Dan has a deep connection to the Canucks. His dad (Dr. Chuck Mielke) was one of the team dentists when the Canucks played in the Western Hockey League and their family had season tickets when the team played at the Pacific Coliseum.
Dan is no stranger to doing good for others either; he is a living kidney donor for his late sister, Darragh. Darragh loved volunteering with CFKF and asked Dan to join her in 2018. Now, he continues to volunteer to honour her.
“She was very tiny, and she said, ‘I need somebody to protect me when I'm there’ so I said, okay, I'll do it with you,” Dan said. “My sister has since passed on the 29th of November, but I'm still doing it for her.”
Dan recalled when Darragh was in the hospital in 2014, she shared a room with the late Pat Quinn. The two of them would have chats with Quinn, who once lamented that he’d never won a Stanley Cup, so Darragh went and bought him a chocolate replica Cup.
“He couldn’t smoke cigars [in the hospital], but he loved chocolate,” Dan said.
Dan’s son’s name is Quinn, the namesake of the Canucks’ former President and General Manager.
Dan takes a comedic approach to selling 50/50, because who doesn’t love some good old-fashioned ribbing? His energy and enthusiasm make everyone’s night memorable.
“I see people coming in wearing the other team jerseys, let’s say it’s for Bruins fans, my line is usually, ‘Hey, Bruins fans, here's your chance to win something tonight,’ and they want to get on you right away, they want to talk to you.” Dan said with a big smile. “Then, Canucks fans around me will say ‘Oh, we liked that one’ and then they’ll buy from you too.”
Dan is usually at Gate 2, but has been stationed all over the arena. He has sold over $330,000 in nearly 800 volunteer hours, and his answer to why volunteering is important to him is simple.
“Everybody needs a little help. People always ask if I can guarantee a winning ticket and I always say, yes, it's a winning ticket. They're all winning tickets because they all go to help the kids. You want the lucky ticket. Just think of it this way: your 50 bucks or 25 bucks is helping save some eight-year-old from leukemia.”
If you see Dan around, ask him for a story before you buy a ticket – each story is more impressive than the last.