By Sahira Memon
SFU Club for the Cure raises over $20,000 for B.C. Children’s Hospital with annual Balding for Dollars event
On Wednesday, March 21, Convocation Mall was overrun with music, food, and a large stage, which displayed live entertainment and plenty of people shaving their heads.
Balding for Dollars is an annual event held by the SFU Club for the Cure, a not-for-profit, student-run club advocating and raising funds in support of cancer research. Balding for Dollars is the club’s largest and most profitable event, raising over $55,000 since 2008, with the funds mainly going to the oncology, hematology, and blood and marrow transplant programs at B.C. Children’s Hospital.
The funds also provide family support programs, research, bursaries and education, and medical supplies and equipment for children and their families.
Planning for the event began at the beginning of the semester, with the board of directors and executives of the club putting the event together. Rachel Osterman, co-coordinator for Balding for Dollars, expressed her appreciation for these efforts in a post-event statement: “[The] team of directors and executives [have] worked tirelessly for the past three months to put on this incredible event, and it [has] definitely paid off.”
This year, through various fundraising efforts and the event in itself, the club was able to raise over $21,000, the highest amount raised through a single event yet. The funds were raised not only through proceeds directly from the event, but pre-event efforts and donations. Frequent bake sales, chocolate bar sales, and donations through tabling at SFU made up a large number of the funds raised. Raffle ticket sales, which were matched by Scotiabank, raised a total of almost $4,000, a record-breaking profit.
The 40 volunteers willing to cut or completely shave their hair at the event, however, raised the bulk of the funds. Prizes were given out to the shavees that raised the most money, with the first prize being tickets to a Canucks game and a signed Luongo jersey.
The event, set in Convocation Mall, began at 10:00 a.m. and ended at 4:00 p.m. Various forms of entertainment, such as live musical performances, sumo wrestling, and a DJ also contributed to the success of the event.
In the aftermath of the success of the event, Osterman thanked the SFU community for their support of the event, and the cause. “Whether you cut or shaved your hair, volunteered, or donated, together we all made a difference in the lives of children living with cancer!”
When not hosting Balding for Dollars, the club raises awareness and funds through other, smaller efforts, such as fundraisers, events, and walks such as the Relay for Life which took place on Friday.
