Mayor, Chief shave heads
by Colin Dacre
Kelowna Mayor Colin Basran and Westbank First Nation Chief Christopher Derickson are sporting new buzz cuts after reaching their goals in Okanagan College’s Haircuts for Health Care campaign.
In less than two weeks both leaders exceeded their goals, helping raise more than $23,000 for Okanagan College’s new Health Sciences Centre that 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.
“I’m a huge supporter of Okanagan College and I wanted to do my part in helping this campaign,” said Basran. “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.”
“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,” says Derickson.
Haircuts for Health Care launched in mid-April, nearly a month after non-essential businesses including salons were forced to close. 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.
Since Haircuts for Health Care started nearly two months ago, more than 380 people have contributed, raising more than $38,000.
