They cried a little, laughed a lot and in the end made a whole bunch noise at John F. Ross high school Saturday night.
The Sounds of Silence event was the wrap up to the annual ten 4 ten fundraising campaign. Speeches, a slide show and more fundraising was followed by the highlight of the night, the pony tail cutting and head shaving of over 100 people in support of the campaign.
This year’s ten 4 ten campaign, the 10th annual, raised $146,000 for the Brain Tumour Foundation of Canada, smashing the goal of $100,000.
Organized and led by John F. Ross, this year’s 12-week campaign spread to high schools and public schools throughout the Upper Grand District School Board and Wellington Catholic School Board.
“I tell my kids that ‘I will tell you my truth,’” said Ross teacher Mark Yanchus. “Tonight is about our truth. Cancer hurts. It rips us apart. It does not feel good. We need to talk about it. We will not be silent.”
Yanchus is the driving force behind the campaign he began 10 years ago in memory of his late brother. That first year it raised $33,000.
“We are banding together as a city. Celebrate breaking, smashing and opening up this wound,” Yanchus said. “We are going to say ‘no’ to being silent.”
Other speakers included Wendy Durigon, who lost her daughter Jessica to cancer, and brain tumour survivor Barb Fortune, a Ross grad.
Mayor Cam Guthrie, also a former Ross Royal, said “there is a lot of stuff that puts Guelph on the map. This blows it up. This is what Guelph is all about.”
Principal Beth Burns praised all the other schools that got involved: “we are all one today,” Burns said.
Stylists from seven different hair salons and two independent stylists hit the stage to cut and shave the heads of those volunteering, which included many John F. Ross staff.
Pony tails were donated to Wigs For Kids, an organization that helps make wigs for children suffering from medical-related hair loss.
The money will be donated to Brain Tumour Foundation of Canada’s childhood brain cancer research grant.
“We are sincerely grateful to Upper Grand District School Board and the entire community of Guelph for what they have achieved. The research that they are helping to fund is life altering and will help children not only survive but thrive,” said Brain Tumour Foundation of Canada CEO, Susan Marshall.
Donations will continue to be collected until the end of April 2016. More information can be found at www.braintumour.ca/ten4ten.
