CORNWALL – A friendly fundraising competition to see who could keep hair on their head has raised nearly $10,000 for the Cornwall and District Big Brothers Big Sisters.
Fundraising Coordinator David Murphy came out on the losing end of the “Hair versus Beard Challenge,” having brought in $4,405 to keep his locks. BBBS Executive Director Ron Graham topped Murphy with $5,100 and got to keep his beard.
Murphy joked that Graham – who has a long snowy-white beard – had pulled “the Santa card” and that some of his allies had actually donated to Graham. “I’ve been told it will grow back. I’m just worried about looking like a Chia Pet for the rest of the summer,” Murphy laughed.
Dave’s daughter, Julia, got the first swipe with the hair razor right down the center of his head while Jorge Luis did the honour of finishing the job.
The $9,505 will go towards BBBS’ mentorship program, to pay for case worker facilitators to make matches. The organization has about 70-80 matches between Bigs and Littles but there about 100 more on a waiting list.
“We needed to get the ball rolling for our fundraising and this definitely helps,” Murphy said.
The local Big Brothers Big Sisters next big event is on July 15 for the DQ Golf For Kids Sake at the Cornwall Golf and Country Club – a social-distanced golf setup – which has sold out.