Head Shaving Fundraiser! Advice needed please :) - The Toronto Weekend to End Women's Cancers

njain · Member

Head Shaving Fundraiser! Advice needed please :)

angierehal · Newbie

Neena, please keep me in the loop, I have raised my money and will support you on the day you decide to host your event with a small donation. As for ideas? Why not go to your hairdresser and see if they are willing to let you use the space, if not then why not a local community centre, where you could host a wine/cheese sell tickets towards your fundraising, just some ideas. Hope you are located fairly close to tme...Mississauga?

kady1999 · Veteran Member

we have never done a head shaving event so i cannot really helo you with that...sorry.

Irish · Veteran Member

My daughter Noreen shaved her head a couple of times to raise money for breast cancer.

The first time was when her friend Nancy was going through chemo and was told she would lose her hair. To show her support for Nancy, Noreen shaved her head along with Nancy and Nancy's sister Vera. The girls used a pub/bar where they often met friends and they had a big head shave. They made this a party which was appreciated by Nancy.

Obviously, they had permission from the bar owners and had a spot set aside to do this so it was sanitary for the patrons.

Noreen shaved her head another time to raise funds for her first year of doing the Weekend To End Breast Cancer Walk six years ago.

If you do shave your head for donations, keep in mind that you MUST GO BALD wherever your donors are, for at least a few days, so that they can see that you have earned their donations. You should make sure that you check with your employer to ensure that they will permit you to go to the workplace with no hair.

Good luck with your fundraising.

njain · Member

Thank you for writing back!

I have checked with my employer and they are completely supportive. Yes, that was absolutely the plan. Im hoping to do it sometime next week, so folks at work and in my apartment building can see me with my head shaved before the walk.

Ive been in to Toni & Guy a couple of times and left my contact info for the manager since he wasnt there, but they have been slow to respond so I havent heard back yet. Surprising, because when I was at UofT they also did Cuts for Cancer for us.

Im going to visit the salon in the Eaton Centre today though, and ask if I can do it in the mall to attract more people and donations. If anyone has media contacts, please let me know. I will try and contact Rogers TV once I get the date and time finalized.

Thank you for your ideas Angie and Diane! It would be great to see you at the event and have you pitch in.

Congrats on your Ottawa walk Diane.

Irish · Veteran Member

Good luck with your head shaving fundraiser Neena. I hope you are able to raise enough to make it worthwhile losing your gorgeous hair. Have you given any thought to donating your hair to a charity that makes wigs for people with cancer?

If you haven't already done so, canvass your friends, family and co-workers for donations to shave your head. You can do a "blast" email to co-workers, and another to all the people in your email address book. Let them know what you are doing and ask for their help in raising the funds.

Get donations from them now, and also have the option of them signing pledge sheets for those that can't give you the cash right away. You will then have to go and collect the money from each of the pledges once the hair is gone.

If you have enough donations from the above people, you don't necessarily need to do the job in a public place. Doing publicly might or might not get you more in donations, but if someone makes you an offer, it would be great.

Does your company have a boardroom where your co-workers could gather to see someone (perhaps your boss, or the president) cut your hair off and then shave it? Maybe people would pay to have the priviledge of taking part in shaving your head. Your office lobby or parking lot might also be a good choice so that more of the staff can come and share in your 'new look'.

Pictures of your head shaving day are important, so that you can share those pics on email with your donors too. You might also consider putting a photo of it on this page too, so others can see what the results are.

Whatever you do, you need to do it quickly because you still have a long way to go in raising the minimum in order to walk for the two day event.

I wish you all the best in this endeavour, Neena. Enjoy the fun of it.

njain · Member

Thank you Diane!

So I will be shaving my head this Saturday at the ING Direct Cafe (Yonge & Shuter) at 1pm if anyone would like to come watch =)

I have also updated my fundraising page with the info: www.endcancer.ca/goto/neenajain

I have sent out an email to my co-workers and created a Facebook event page as well to get the word out and bring in more donations. Keeping my fingers crossed!!

I will definitely take pictures and post them up here if I can.

Thank you all for your help and encouragement!

Neena

Terry · Veteran Member

Hi

You should post on Events and General also to get more people to see what you are doing.

Best of luck

njain · Member

Good idea! Thank you - posting now :)

njain · Member

Thanks everyone!!!

Here are the photos =)

http://tinyurl.com/neenajain

See you all on Saturday!