When Carman Collegiate Principal Mary Reimer found out a staff member had cancer, she wanted to show support for her and those with a cancer diagnosis and started making chocolate moustaches and selling them in the school cafeteria for $2 each. The first year they raised $1500 for Boundary Trails Health Centre Cancer Care.
The next year, Reimer was diagnosed with cancer, but still decided to keep making moustaches, raising $8300. This year, with 500 pounds of donated chocolate from 0MG Candy Company and supplies sold to her at cost by a local store, The Price is Right Store, she hoped to reach $12, 000.
"We're just thrilled that Carmen Collegiate can support our local hospital. So many of us don't realize how lucky we are to have that facility so close by. And so, it's just with great pleasure that I give a cheque for $18,260 to Boundary Trails. So, thank you so much."
BTHC Foundation Executive Director Shannon Samatte-Folkett shared, after last year's substantial donation, she started following the fundraiser on social media, adding, the word spreading made a big impact at the hospital too.
"We actually had somebody who was inspired by this, a donor came to us and ask to purchase $1000 worth of chocolate moustaches for us to give to the staff and patients at Boundary Trails Health Centre. So, on one day in November, my coworker and I, Jennifer, went around the hospital and handed them out. We got to see that pleasure, that excitement, that smile that people were having when we told them the story. A lot of people had already known about it, and they were really excited to have one."
Reimer said she is thrilled to be able to give back to Cancer Care.
"Boundary Trails definitely got me through some dark days last year, when I was going through chemo and going through my own treatment. It feels like we are giving back to Boundary, who so willingly, made sure that I was taken care of during my time of need."
Samatte-Folkett said the small unit in the hospital makes a big impact.
"We see the bond that they have with their patients and their families and years after. I can see this through. Mary, what she's doing and the relationship she's formed with the staff there."
The money from the moustache fundraiser and Pembina Central Flyers' hockey game will go towards the BTHC expansion underway right now, which includes the Cancer Care unit, to add to the services/equipment needed for the increased capacity of the unit.
In response to Canada's Online News Act and Meta (Facebook and Instagram) removing access to local news from their platforms, PembinaValleyOnline encourages you to get your news directly from your trusted source by bookmarking this page and downloading the PembinaValleyOnline app.