Students rise to challenge with creative fundraisers

By Lynzey MacRae

When anthropology professor Dr. Anne Irwin discovered that a Ronald McDonald House being built close to campus might not have enough money for completion, she challenged her students to help.

If the students were able to raise $10,000 to help the organization—which houses out-of-town families while receiving treatment in hospitals—she would shave her head.

“ The important work that Ronald McDonald House does was forcefully driven home to me when my granddaughter was diagnosed with a very rare form of leukemia at two months of age,” says Irwin. “I wanted in some way to contribute to the cause of children and their families living with cancer.”

Her challenge not only inspired the recent “Dancing with the Stars” event, organized by students in kinesiology and resulting in more than $15,000 raised, it also motivated students from the Faculty of Anthropology and the Haskayne School of Business to each spearhead their own fundraisers.

One enterprising business student in Irwin’s class, Rebecca Whittaker, brought the challenge to the Haskayne School of Business’s Commerce Undergraduate Society (CUS), which then organized a “Pie-Your-Prof” event. Students were required to raise money for the opportunity to throw pies at willing Haskayne professors.

“The fact that this was done for a wonderful cause is the reason to participate,” said Ryan Lee, a Haskayne professor and volunteer pie recipient.

These events and a variety of fundraisers organized by anthropology students raised almost $25,000 and Irwin graciously sacrificed her full head of hair on April 13.