Each summer, Meaghan Passero sets up her unique version of the dating game.
The director of community relations for the Fort Erie Meteors interviews prospective candidates who are interested in becoming billets for the team, housing and taking care of the out-of-town players for the season.
“We try to suit them with the best families possible,” Passero said. “I make it a dating game so they get to know each other as much as they can. That’s why I like them to pre-date.”
Passero leaves no stone unturned.
“I’m very particular on my billets,” she said. “These boys are my kids. That’s how I treat them, so I need to know for sure and I’m on them every time I see them. How are things at the billets? Everything going good? Because if they’re not happy, it’s going to start showing.”
The Kidd family of Fort Erie — Andrew, Meghan and 11-year-old Mason — are entering their fourth season as billets. They began by billeting Sam Barrett towards the end of the 2021/22 season when the Meteors acquired the Owen Sound native.
“Yeah, it was right before the playoffs,” Meghan Kidd said. “It was just basically the end of the regular season and playoffs, so it was a short stint and a great trial run.”
The Kidds enjoyed the experience so much — they nicknamed Barrett OT Sammy — they signed up the following season and billeted defenceman Andrew MacNiel and then had forward Colton Radford last year.
Meghan Kidd said the family loves following the players after they leave the Meteors.
“It’s the contact afterwards, the random FaceTimes and calls and Mother’s Day texts, that’s the ultimate,” she said. “It’s the relationships that they’ve had with all of us. We’ve always gone to like a few junior B games here and there, but being fully immersed in it and we came in at the right time because the team was doing so well and just being part of the whole experience.”
MacNiel, who spent last season with the Kitchener Rangers and was selected by the Montreal Canadians in this year’s National Hockey League draft, has fond memories of his time with the Kidd family.
“The Kidds welcomed me with open arms and they really became family instantly,” MacNiel said. “They always supported me no matter what and were the best billet family I could ask for as a young 16-year-old moving away from home for the first time.
“They have such a big and kind caring family that it felt like I was at home when I was with them.”
Mason Kidd, who attends Garrison Road Public School, enjoys his hockey big brothers.
“I love it,” he said. “Sometimes we go golfing here and there but mini sticks was our go-to thing.”
The Kidds appreciate Passero’s trust and hands-on approach.
“The three of them (Nik, Anthony and Meaghan Passero) are great,” Meghan Kidd said. “They trust me and I trust them. I know Meghan has my back. If things aren’t working out, then they’re gone. Sometimes things don’t mesh but I never was concerned that way, that we’d be stuck with somebody who didn’t fit in our family or who wasn’t a good role model for him (Mason). I don’t really have that worry because they don’t roster their team with kids, young men, who wouldn’t be a good role model.”
Billets are paid $600 per month to off-set the cost of food which Passero realizes doesn’t go far with the price of groceries continuing to climb.
“It’s going to have to go up next year just because of food prices and they eat so much but I make it so things like protein powder, protein drinks, pre-workout stuff, any of those major costs, the parents have to pay because that’s not fair because that $600 is gone in five minutes if you have to go buy all their protein stuff,” she said. “It always ends up costing them money because I know it’s not about the money, it’s about the experience that they’re giving these kids.”
Passero loves to see the players be more than just borders to the families.
“A lot of them have younger kids, so they go to their hockey games, baseball games, soccer, whatever it is and they make themselves a part of the family,” she said.
Meghan Kidd said she loves that part of the relationship.
“Every family is different, but all three of them (billets) came from a similar family dynamics like ours,” she said. “Very involved, extended family and all that so they were used to having little cousins around and are used to having aunts and uncles and having all these extended families around.”
Passero encourages the players to try and keep their game-day routine as close as possible to when they were at home.
“If you just sit in your room and you let your mind stew, you’re not going to be able to play hockey,” she said. “The whole reason why you’re here is to play hockey, to better yourself, and make something of yourself. But when you can’t focus because you’re homesick — there’s always different reasons that the kids go through things which we understand — a pre-game meal is huge because that’s how I grew up watching my billet brothers and then my brothers’ pregame meal.”
Meghan Kidd said she is happy to prepare whatever — provided she can pry the information out of them.
“The hardest part for me was getting them to tell me what you want. They’re all like, ‘Whatever is fine, whatever’s in the fridge is fine, and cook whatever you want for dinner.’ I’m like, tell me what you want me to cook you. What’s your game meal? So it’s just really trying to be there but not be overbearing in a sense, but include them in our family. They were invited to everything. I tried very hard not to like over-parent them because we’re not trying to take the place of their parents obviously.”
Passero said a good billet family is key for the organization.
“If it wasn’t for our billets, we’d be in trouble. When the players are away from at home, especially the younger ones, it’s harder on them. It plays a toll on them mentally.”
Passero said the team is always looking for additional billet families. She can be contacted at 905-992-9447.
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