If you were in a pinch and needed a superhero to come and save the day, you probably wouldn’t want Deadpool to show up. The Merc with the Mouth brings violence and chaos with him wherever he goes and while he did once go out of his way to get a cat out of a tree, he also gave a child two loaded handguns in the process. Conversely, the man under the red and black mask appears to be basically a saint.
Ryan Reynolds seems to spend as much time working on charitable causes and making big donations to human rights organizations as he does acting and producing. This warms our hearts, but he’s now gone one better for the pupils of a remote school in the frozen north of Canada, who are set to have their entire bodies warmed.
The story began in September when Canadian Inuk singer/songwriter Becky Han posted a tweet asking for donations to allow the Inuujaq School in Arctic Bay to buy winter wear for children. As you might expect from a town called Arctic Bay, the place is pretty chilly in the winter with temperatures getting down to as low as -38.8°C (-37.84°F).
Reynolds saw the tweet, contacted Extreme Weather Outerwear company Canada Goose, and arranged for the school to receive a shipment of enough parkas, snow pants, hats, gloves and boots for all 329 pupils. Principal Gregg Durrant said the children were overjoyed at the gesture, explaining:
“They put on their parkas trying to make sure that whatever gear they were getting were suitable for them in terms of size, they were like, ‘Thank you Gregg! Thank you Gregg!’ I’m like, ‘yes, it’s thank you, Ryan! Thank you, Ryan!'”
Han, whose tweet got Reynolds’ attention, initially thought his response was a joke, but when she realized it was genuine, she said:
“I was just touched. I was grateful that, you know, people are listening and he wanted to help out and that. And that he has concern over Inuit in Nunavut.”
Canada Goose vice-president of corporate citizenship Gavin Thompson also revealed how Reynolds helped out, saying:
“When Ryan Reynolds reached out to us about what he was hearing about Arctic Bay, we acted quickly with him and his generosity. Ryan’s been a friend of our brand now for over 10 years and we stay in touch with him.”
So, there you have it. 329 Canadian children are now going to be a lot warmer this winter, Canada Goose got a nice bit of free PR and Ryan Reynolds continues to look like a damn fine dude. Now, if we could just get some news on Deadpool 3…
