Brayden Ottenbreit's Close Cuts for Cancer raised over $36,000 for cancer research, and gave a new, close-cropped summer look to 60 participants.
This year was slightly different as there were more remote shaves spread out through the region. Remote shaves were held at Miller School in Melville, MacDonald School in Stockholm, Saltcoats School, Columbia School in Yorkton and Canora Jr Elementary School in addition to the final shave at Parkland Mall.
The local initiatives fund also had a successful year, with over $11,250 to fund the Palliative Care Department at the Yorkton Regional Health Centre through The Health Foundation, one-night stays at the Regina Cancer Patient Lodge, Camp Circle O' Friends, and Ronald McDonald House in Saskatoon. This money came from events such as the kickoff barbecue at Mr. Mikes, the Mother Daughter Tea Parties at Joey Children's Apparel, the First Annual Speedghetti Champ-ionship held at Boston Pizza, the Annual 98.5FM Rock Radiothon, the First Annual Spring of Hope Tradeshow and other events throughout the community.
One of the participants in this year's event was Brice Wiome, who raised $1,000 to shave his hair and his substantial beard. He says that he decided to participate last year, after getting a comment from Greg Ottenbreit that his beard made him resemble the cast of Duck Dynasty. Since his hair was almost long enough to donate, he said that he decided to start working towards this year's event and find support over the year, and along with two others who work at Deneschuk homes and were similarly hairy started Deneschuk Dynasty to raise funds.
The deal is that after raising $1,000, Wiome has to stay shaved for a month, something he is not looking forward to, especially as someone who does not regularly shave. However, he says he's prepared to do it, because it's nothing compared to going through cancer treatments. He says some of the people he's thinking of as he's shaving are his grandparents Nicholas and Georgina Wiome who both died of cancer.
Wiome encourages others to take part in the event, and to start planning right away. "You can do a lot of work in a year."
The summer isn't over for Close Cuts. Upcoming events include Brayden's Lemonade Stand to be held each Thursday night during July and August from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. in front of Joey Children's Apparel, a pancake breakfast and head-shavewith Don Ward getting a long-overdue haircut on Saturday, June 21st at the Anglican Church in Melville, a remote head-shave and steak night in Saskatoon on Wednesday, June 25,and the Annual Pancake Breakfast at Gitko Lake Store located at Good Spirit Lake Provincial Park on Sunday, August 3.
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