Prince Charles students raise $4,200 for cancer research                         

by Jeff Green
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Last November, Madi Van Camp and Celina Gray decided to offer up their hair in order to issue a fundraising challenge. They were hoping to raise $500 for Princess Margaret Hospital, where former Verona resident Brenda York, best friend of Madi’s mother Nicki, is undergoing treatment for cervical cancer.

Madi and Celina seem to have aimed a bit low.

By December 22^nd, when the two Prince Charles Public School students were ready to have their heads shaved on the last day of school before Christmas, they had raised almost $3,500.

The girls were a little nervous when they were getting ready for the shaving, which was done in front the entire school during a high-spirited pre-Christmas assembly.

Although head shavings are not unusual at Prince Charles - Principal Scot Gillam shaves his head each year as part of the Terry Fox Run campaign - the students had never seen two of their own get buzzed.

Madi and Celina were nearly overwhelmed by the attention they received, with the crowd howling as swaths of hair were removed. The girls emitted a few squeals as they gazed into hand-held mirrors to see their half-shorn heads.

Within a few minutes the hair was all gone, but family members, Madi and Celina, all quickly got used to their new look. They might even have turned shaved heads on girls into a new trend at Prince Charles.

The money didn’t stop coming in after the head shaving, and late last week, Madi and Celina took a trip to Toronto to present a $4,200 cheque to the Princess Margaret Foundation. In accordance with Brenda York’s wishes, the money has been earmarked for research into gynaecological cancers.

“I’m pretty proud of what we’ve done,” Madi said this week in looking back at the entire campaign, “although having my head shaved in front of the whole school was kind of nerve racking.”

“Children instinctively want to help,” said Madi’s mother Nicki, “and this project gave them a focus. It takes a lot for girls to do something like this, and my husband Chad and I are so proud of both of the girls.”

Nicki Van Camp also reported that her friend Brenda has completed her radiation therapy and is beginning a course of chemotherapy which will run until mid-March.

Brenda certainly knows that she has a lot of support back in her home town of Verona.