When students arrived back to school in September at Haahuupayak, it was back to a full and busy schedule. Before they knew it, it was the Terry Fox Run, an annual event held across Canada to raise awareness for Cancer Research.
For twenty years the school has been raising funds in honor of Terry Fox to donate to Cancer Research. In the last few years, the school added a fun twist for the students: The students who raise the most money would get the opportunity to throw a pie in their teacher's face!
“They’re very excited,” said Ernie Netzer, a teacher at Haahuupayak and coordinator for the fundraiser. “Some are nervous.”
He shared that in the past the principal, members of board of directors and even Police/Liaison Officers have joined in the event in the past.
“They just go nuts,” said Netzer of the pie throwing assembly. “We’re all a mess.”
Netzer shared that last year the pie throwing really motivated the students to fundraise. The day before the assembly they had raised three hundred dollars and the day of the assembly the total jumped up to eleven hundred dollars.
This year the students are collecting funds online as well as in-person. They aim to have the fundraiser closed in early November and have not selected a closing date for this year yet.
“I reminded [the students] that we are all going to be touched by cancer,” said Netzer. “Either ourselves or somebody we care about.”
“All the money raised goes to research so they can help more people,” he said, noting that Haahuupayak donates to the Terry Fox Foundation.
Netzer guesses that through the twenty years of running the Fundraiser, Haahuupayak has likely raised about fifteen thousand dollars, shared Netzer.
“We love the virtues that he stood for like courage, determination, and never giving up,” said Netzer. “Terry Fox is a hero.”
