The gym was electric at École élémentaire catholique Saint-Raymond this afternoon with students cheering as they watched three of their teachers prepare for their haircuts. It was a moment the kids anticipated for a while, as the spectacle was a promised reward for participating in a recent fundraiser.
From February 6th to 16th, Saint-Raymond students took part in a fundraiser to raise money for school activities and to go toward a fund to build an outdoor education classroom behind the school on Borge Avenue in North Bay.
The fundraising project was created in partnership with the school’s Parent Committee and from the Little Caesar’s Pizza Kit Program. Students would sell these pizza kits, and as an incentive, three teachers volunteered to have their long hair cut, with the sacrificed locks to be donated to Wigs for Kids, an organization that donates wigs to youth who lose their hair for medical reasons.
One charity event led directly to another, both of which helped the kids.
So today, Michel Beaudet, Valerie Rancourt, and Lynne Beaudet—three brave teachers—headed to the hair chopping block. They sat overlooking the kids from the stage, and the kids were going wild in anticipation.
When hair stylist Audrey Voyer—founder of Audrey’s Hairstyling—came out to prepare the three for the big show, the volume of cheers only increased. Voyer has been cutting hair for over 20 years, and over that time she’s donated hair to the Wigs for Kids program, so helping today felt like a nice fit. She also has two kids attending Saint-Raymond.
Teacher Michel Beaudet was hesitant at first to give up his locks. When he was first asked he declined straight away. However, after a few hours thought, he realized “there’s so much good that can come out of this,” that he agreed to participate.
“It’s a great cause,” he said, not only Wigs for Kids, but the school’s fundraiser really got a boost from the idea of seeing the long-haired teachers get a significant trim. Their promise of hair cuts “helped build anticipation” for the students.
Marie-Josee Tremblay, the school’s interim principal, mentioned there are 126 students at the school ranging from pre-kindergarten to grade six, and many helped with the fundraiser. The goal was to sell 250 products from Little Caesar’s, and once that goal was met, the scissors would come out.
But the kids didn’t stop there. They shattered that goal and sold 778 products—by all accounts some pipin’ hot pizza sales. “We tripled our goal,” Tremblay said.
“We raised about $4,500 for the school,” she added, which will do much to get that outdoor classroom off the ground.
David Briggs is a Local Journalism Initiative reporter who works out of BayToday, a publication of Village Media. The Local Journalism Initiative is funded by the Government of Canada.
