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Kelowna Mayor Colin Basran and Westbank First Nation Chief Christopher Derickson are sporting new haircuts after taking part in a fundraising campaign for Okanagan College’s new Health Sciences Centre.
Both leaders were able to raise more than $10,000 each, for a total of $23,000, for the campaign, and, having met their fundraising goals, met up in the College’s courtyard recently for a physically-distanced haircut from their partners, Leanne Basran and Jordan Derickson. A video of the haircut is available here.
“I’m a huge supporter of Okanagan College and I wanted to do my part in helping this campaign,” said Colin.
“I know Christopher serves on the College’s Board and I thought the two of us could lend our names to this amazing campaign to raise some money.”
The new Health Sciences Centre will train students for eight frontline health care professions.
The Chief and Mayor’s involvement also unlocked another gift. Okanagan College President Jim Hamilton donated $5,000 after the campaign surpassed $10,000.
“This is a very worthy cause, I’m glad to have been a part of it. I’m excited to see the amount of support we generated from this campaign and they still need to raise money, the campaign itself isn’t over,” said Christopher.
Kelowna Mayor Colin Basran and @westbankfn Chief Christopher Derickson are committing to shaving their heads for a cause: https://t.co/mzukqQdbRI #haircutsforhealthcare #ourstudentsyourhealth pic.twitter.com/5WChLKVW8t
— Okanagan College (@OkanaganCollege) May 12, 2020
“While we all might be getting our haircuts now with our regular salons and barbers you can still give to the campaign, they still need to raise money for this wonderful Health Sciences building.”
Haircuts for Health Care launched in mid-April, nearly a month after non-essential businesses including salons were forced to close.
More than 380 people have contributed, raising more than $38,000.
The fundraiser invited people who were in desperate need of a haircut to open up their own ‘self-isolation salon’ and hand the clippers to their kids or spouse.
People could donate the cost of a typical haircut or go for a creative cut and fundraise from their friends.
“We are so grateful to Colin and Chris for supporting this campaign. In the process of sacrificing their hair, they have given our campaign a major boost and underlined the importance of health care education for our community,” says Helen Jackman, Okanagan College Foundation Executive Director.
“We’d like to thank everyone in the community who donated. Your generosity and community spirit at this extraordinary time is inspiring.”
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