The Science Students Association raised $23,626.46 with the 39 events it organized during the campaign, which ran from May 1 to October 31.
A blend of creativity, stamina and teamwork has produced record-setting results for the Science Students’ Association’s annual Shinerama drive for cystic fibrosis research.
Employing every fundraising idea imaginable, the SSA raised $23,626.46 with the 39 events it organized during the campaign, which ran from May 1 to October 31.
“This is not only a faculty record for us, but also an all-time campus-wide record for any faculty,” relates SSA President Jayme Lewthwaite. Eclipsing its objective of $14,000, the SSA also attained other goals. The traditional event helps build and strengthen the student community according to SSA philanthropic coordinator Melissa Kohlman. “There’s something amazing about how people can come together, rain or shine, at ridiculous times,” she says. For example, Shine Day on September 6 started at 5:30 a.m., and a Sucker Run ran until 3:30 a.m. “But people still came, had fun, enjoyed themselves and felt good about doing it.”
Cystic fibrosis is an important cause, and it provided a common ground for people who wanted to make a difference. The students say that, as scientists, they recognize the need for research, and that research is expensive. However, CF research has increased the life expectancy of a person with that disease from six months in 1959 to 47.7 years in 2007.
The University of Ottawa has participated in Shinerama since it started in the 1960s, when students took the CF cause to the streets, offering to shine shoes in exchange for donations. Since then, it has grown into one of the largest fundraising efforts in the country and has become a tradition at 60 postsecondary schools in the nation.
Over the years, volunteers have found new ways of collecting contributions. To raise $23,626.46 was no easy task. Students started in May at the Great Glebe Garage Sale with a successful bake sale that raised over $900. They followed up with a massive bottle drive, filling a living room with bottles and raising over $500. They continued throughout the summer, holding more bottle drives, selling freezies and sunglasses downtown and at Bluesfest, and doing many Sucker Runs in the Market on Fridays and Saturdays. A Sucker Run is when a group of students visits market bars and sells candy and condoms to bar-goers.
The most successful Sucker Run made over $1,400 in one night. During the drive, more than 50 students helped out. Those numbers soared during 101 Week (frosh week), when 600 students, 100 guides and the SSA Executive invaded downtown Ottawa in search of donations.
On Shine Day itself, 175 students, bolstered by the countless numbers of students who donated money, set out to do crazy and fun things in exchange for contributions.
Some danced for six hours straight, others raced office chairs. A Periodic Table of Cupcakes, a bake sale, a flutist, a bagpiper and a game of Twister helped net $4,500 on Shine Day alone.
The last major event was “Pie the Prof in the Face.” If students raised a certain sum, their prof was pied in the face at the end of class. The idea received amazing support from the faculty, with seven professors participating and raising over $2,000.
The SSA is already working on its next philanthropic effort –-Spread the Net. This initiative raises money so bed nets can be sent to Africa to help prevent the spread of malaria. Two years ago, the SSA’s efforts gained the attention of none other than Rick Mercer, a champion of the cause, who interviewed the students involved. Again, the SSA is aiming to get people engaged and to reach out to everyone.
