Marie-Hélène in Ellesmere, northern Canada, in 2000.
On May 27, over one hundred people will get their heads shaved in Saint-Bruno (Lac-Saint-Jean, Québec) for the Foundation. The objective is to raise 150,000 dollars, which represents about half of our operational costs, making the Shave-O-Thon our biggest fundraising event of the year.
The first edition of the Shave-O-Thon took place in 2001, at the home of RĂ©jean CĂ´tĂ© (Marie-HĂ©lène’s father) with his family and, obviously, a hairdresser. He had his head shaved as a gesture of solidarity for his daughter, who was then undergoing chemotherapy treatment. He also raised a total of $800 for the On the Tip of the Toes Foundation, in recognition of Marie-HĂ©lène’s trip with us to Ellesmere Island in 2000.
In 2005, the event was renamed the Marie-HĂ©lène CĂ´tĂ© Shave-O-Thon, in honour of the dynamic young girl. This year, her father, RĂ©jean, will be bald for a seventh consecutive year. “With a hundred people, this year’s event is definitely going to be a party“, he told me on the phone this week.
See pictures of all 17 expeditions since our beginnings in 1996 here.
Interested in participating? Write to us!
