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Westside top ‘Dress for the Cause’ fundraiser for 5th straight year

March 12, 2020   ·   0 Comments

By Mike Baker

They’ve gone and done it again – for the fifth consecutive year. Westside Secondary School has been named the top national fundraiser for the annual Dress for the Cause event. 

Referred to simply as ‘Pink Day’ here in Orangeville, the annual extravaganza aims to raise money for the Breast Cancer Society of Canada (BCSC). At its most recent event, held last Oct. 25, students at the school raised $19,444, bringing their accumulative donation total to more than $170,000, according to a press release sent out by BCSC. 

“Congratulations to Westside Secondary School students, faculty and administration, and their community, for another successful Pink Day,” said Kimberly Carson, CEO of BCSC. “We are delighted to award the title of top Dress for the Cause fundraiser in Canada to Westside once again.”

She added, “Thank you for your continued support of our mission to save lives through breast cancer research.”

Every October, companies, schools and organizations from across Canada take part in Dress for the Cause by hosting local, individual fundraising events in support of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. To date, Dress for the Cause has raised more than $10 million for breast cancer research. 

For years, the annual event has been a staple locally, a date the entire student body at Westside looks forward to. The day kicks off with a community pancake breakfast, starting at 7 a.m. and continues with special events and activities throughout the day. Pink Day culminates with a special hour-long assembly in the school’s gymnasium, where students shave their heads, wax their legs and much more all in the name of raising money for breast cancer research. 

In honour of Westside’s phenomenal achievement again this year, BCSC will make a $5,000 donation on behalf of the school to Headwaters Health Care Centre, the local cancer treatment centre. 

Christine Kirkland, a guidance counsellor at Westside and Pink Day’s primary coordinator, commended the student body, and the  community, for helping to make Pink Day 2019 yet another monumental success.

“Participating in Pink Day is a tremendous experience and we are humbled to have won again,” Ms. Kirkland said. “To see our students donate their time and talents to support such a worthy cause is truly overwhelming and shows what we can accomplish when we all work together.”

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