Shave for the Brave News
A Shaver gets some help from his Mane Mama
Posted on Mar 04, 2011
Christian Legge was at a St. John’s Fog Devils hockey game with his mom when he first heard about the Shave for the Brave.
“I saw all the yellow toques and I was like, ‘hey! Where are they getting them?’ I wanted a toque too,” said Christian. The then first grader Shaved his head that night. He is now preparing to Shave for the Brave for the fifth consecutive year.
“We heard Geoff [Eaton, founder of Young Adult Cancer Canada] at the intermission. He explained what they were doing and what all the yellow hats were for,” said his mom, Lori Critch.
“We had never heard of it until then, and at the hockey game Geoff explained everything and my grandmother had just died five months earlier, she had cancer, and the first thing [Christian] said to me was, ‘I didn’t shave my head when Nanny died. That’s how he associated it, I guess,” said Lori.
“I’m proud of him. He’s very dedicated to what he does and he’s goofy…he has fun with it,” Lori said.
Two other children from Christian’s old school Shaved with him during his second year and his school hosted a crazy hat day to acknowledge the students and what they did. Last year, he saw a couple of kids he knew at the Shave thank you party who said he inspired them to Shave their heads.
One of the boys at the thank you party lost his mother a year ago to cancer. “It was a big shock to see them there because we had moved so when we went to the after party we saw his old friend with his sister and his dad and I knew she had had cancer and I asked how she was doing,” said Lori.
“Not a good question,” Christian said.
He knows he is helping people when he Shaves but he also enjoys trying to beat his total from the year before. He raised $3,347 in 2010 and is hoping to raise at least $3,500 this year.
His parents and grandmothers are instrumental at helping him with that achievement. They hold bake sales, recycling drives, an annual silent auction, soup and sandwich lunches, dances, canvass door to door, and have held a flea market to raise the money.
“His grandmother started recycling last year. She goes every five or six weeks and then she keeps the money in a little can. That’s actually a pretty big total right now,” said Lori.
Last year’s silent auction/bake sale/flea market/soup and sandwich lunch was held at the New Perlican Community Centre. They raised about $1,800 at that event alone.
“It was a little bit of work beforehand but not too bad when you have people around that can help you out,” Lori Said.
This year’s silent auction is hosted on Facebook at Christian’s Shave for the Brave Auction Fundraiser. Some of the items they’re auctioning are nights in hotels, an autographed Snook t-shirt, a Snook CD, a puffy vest, a large pizza from Boston Pizza, a $100 gift certificate for the Memories Forever Coach, a spa treatment at Winterholme Suites and Spa, handmade placemats, a photo session with Sandra Lee Photography, lift passes for White Hills, a Sobey’s gift card, Jumbo Video movie and game rentals, Yuk Yuk’s passes, a Tval gift pack, and more!
They approached their friends, sent out letters, and emails to get the auction items donated. You can bid until 5 p.m. on Friday, March 4 and Lori and Christian will deliver the goodies over the weekend.
Christian has been growing his hair since the last Shave for the Brave (save a small trim his stepmom made him get for pictures!) and is looking forward to having a new bright yellow toque to add to his collection on March 12.
Thank you, Christian, for continuing to support Young Adult Cancer Canada, and to Lori and your parents and grandparents for doing everything they can to help fundraise!
