I know it’s been a long time coming so if you missed the event last year, here are just a few of the highlights. If I were to mention everything that happened that day you would be reading a very long blog post so I’ll quickly recap!
With 70 people signed up to “Shave for the Brave” we were in for a long full day! People of all ages were there with their family and friends to join their community in supporting kids fighting Cancer. Together we raised more than $70,000. What an incredible achievement! We want to Thank all of our Shavees for their courage to stand up with us.
I always consider it such a privilege to be apart of this event because you get to see things up close. You may not have been personally touched by cancer but you come to this event without hearing a story of one of our young warriors, many of them volunteering to help give back.
The site looked amazing. It wasn’t just the brightly decorated stage, but the posters of our Cancer warriors and their stories, along with the other carnival-like stations outside that really made this a beautiful place. We’re so grateful to all of our dedicated and incredible volunteers who set up their stations, and helped us run them throughout the day! We quickly saw that a favourite station was the new Angry Bird toss game that was manned by the Awesome Langley Rams Football Team! Seriously, those guys rocked that.
It was also pure magic to have Captain America, Cinderella and other Disney Princesses come for a visit thanks to My Little Princess Events. I heard one little girl say that this was the best day of her whole life because she got to meet a real live princess.
There were some tears at times, because, well let’s face it . . . when isn’t there tears with cancer? But there were more smiles, high fives and fist bumps than I could count! The moment everyone was waiting for was when Doctors Rod and Bjorn, along with Dr. Rod’s son, all took the stage. At that point the atrium was packed. The audience was waiting with anticipation for what was about to happen. As these brave men sat on their stools, they were joined on stage by some of their current and former patients.
When the kids took up the razors and started shaving their doctors’ heads, you could feel the whole crowd swell with love and pride.
Dr.Baadjes, who wore long dread locks for many years, courageously sacrificed them to benefit kids in treatment for cancer and other serious illnesses. Both doctors participated in the fundraising as well, with Dr.Baadjes raising $8,086.27 and Dr. Rassekh and Zach raising $6,339.
This was truly an amazing event to witness. I have always loved attending this event because I feel that when I’m there I am not fighting alone. Everyone knows someone in their life who has had cancer whether that is a child or adult but the opportunity to come together and make a stand by shaving or cutting their hair to show support for our fighters just makes my heart so full.
THANK YOU so Much to all of our SUPER Generous and Kind Sponsors. We can’t do this event without you. Your sponsorship helps create the magic and we are so so grateful for it!
We want to SAY A BIG BIG THANK YOU to our SUPERSTAR SPONSORS . . .
Tom Lee Music for providing all of our sound equipment and tech support for the day!
Pizza Pzazz for giving us the best pizza we’ve ever had
Starbucks for quenching our thirst and getting us through the day
Superstore for providing buns, meat, cheese, etc. for our event!
Safeway for providing veggie and fruit platters
Save on Foods for sending goodies our way
Cartems doughnuts for the incredible sugar high
Pixstar for helping us capture the spirit of the day
My Little Princess Events for sending us those smiles
Peachwave Frozen Yogurt for sharing your Robot with us
The Langley Rams for your awesome support and energy
Urban Safari Rescue Society for entertaining and educating us
Joyful Celebrations for the bouncy castle and minion
BC Childhood Cancer Parent’s Association for manning our booths
Starlight Children’s Foundation for helping us run our Spin Wheel
Hip Hop Clothing for creating all our cool Balding swag
Dave and his Awesome Hairdressers from Mobile Hairdressing
Vancouver Polish Theatre for their incredible play
Vancouver Whitecaps and BC Lions for giving us raffle prizes
AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST WE WANT TO SAY A HUGE HUGE THANK YOU TO ALL OF OUR AMAZING VOLUNTEERS!!!!
We could not have done this without you. Thank you for continually showing up each year with energy, love and a desire to make a difference. You guys are the best.
Well that’s it for now! See you on May 13th 2017 at our 18th Annual Main Event!!!
Cheers,
Christine Tulloch xo
BFD Administrator
