Défi des têtes rasées
Aylmer girls team-up against Leukemia
Les Explosives is an Aylmer-based all-girls hockey team made up of fifteen girls between the ages of nine and ten.
One of the girls on the team, Sophie Suhubiette has a four-year-old sister, Leah who is battling Leukemia. Wanting to support her sister who was losing her hair due to treatments, she shaved off her hair as well. Nervous to return to hockey and fearful that other girls would laugh or make fun of her, her actions ended up causing a completely different reaction.
Kennedy Jenkins, Sophie’s best friend and fellow goalkeeper, as well as the rest of her team, decided to help.
The team organized a fundraiser on April 27, reaching out to Leucan Outaouais and recruiting the help of two hairdressers, a barber, a photographer and a videographer who recorded the transformations.
Of those girls, Kennedy and nine of her friends shaved their heads completely. Everyone else also pitched in, two dads, one mom, two younger siblings also shaved their heads, another player and a mom donated their ponytails and four more moms, including Kennedy’s mom Jenna, were shaved from the ear down.
The girls collected donations totalling $7,600 and the icing on the cake of the event was that young Leah was healthy enough to come and take part in the activities and witness the love and support that was shared for her throughout the day.
Défi des tête rasées 2019
On May 3, Leucan Outaouais launched the nineteenth regional edition of the Tête rasée 2019 challenge to raise funds to provide services to families of children battling cancer.
The challenge serves as a gesture of support and solidarity for the children who undergo a significant change to their body image due to the loss of their hair while undergoing chemotherapy.
For the 2019 edition of the challenge, five shaving events are officially organized for May 26 at the Promenades de Gatineau, June 7 at the Place du Centre, June 15 at Galeries d’Aylmer, June 14, at Gatineau’s Chocolat Favoris and on September 15 at the Galeries de Hull.
People who wish to participate in these shaving events can do so on the Défi des têtes rasées website.
From the website, it is also possible to organize a personalized challenge, where people can determine the date, time, location and scope of their own event to contribute to the cause.
To contribute without doing the head-shaving, it is also possible to make a donation on behalf of a person or group of people who are participating in the challenge.
