the plumber’s FAUCET
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Trigger Warning: Charity
Engineering Shaves the Day Left: Shave to Save participants (from left to right): Asa Davis, Gabriel Petrella, Graham Pinchin, Nicolas Westgate, James Austin, Morgan Grobin, Bryan Gingras, Carlos Marin, Zachery Oman. Not pictured: Emmet Austin, Reid Hadaway, Joe Hayek. Right: Giant thermometer shows how much money was made
Shave to Save at Apocolypse Blues Pub Raises over $1200 for Canadian Diabetes Association Last Friday, the 29th of November, saw the last Blues Pub of 2013 come and go. Hosted by the Plumber’s Philharmonic Orchestra (or PPO), the event was by all measures a roaring success. The afternoon kicked off with Rowdy Day Blues Pub from 2:00 until 4:00, where patrons lined up to spin the fabled “Wheel of Misfortune” and completed fun, silly tasks to earn themselves a free beer. Then, from 4:00 onwards was Apocalypse Blues Pub, during which over 70 cases of beer were sold. Several hundred dollars of profit were raised, all of which is to be donated to Team Diabetes in support of Dianne Ferguson. A PPO member and the EUS’ very own administrative manager, Dianne has committed to walking a marathon in spring 2014 as part of Team Diabetes, which is the national activity fundraising program for the Canadian Diabetes Association.
One thing in in particular made this semester’s Apocalypse Blues Pub truly exceptional: a one-night Shave to Save fundraising campaign that far exceeded all expectations. The event, initiated by PPO member Graham Pinchin, sought to raise money for Movember Canada. Participants volunteered to shave their heads at different fundraising goal levels, displayed on a large fundraising thermometer. When each goal was reached, the thermometer was updated accordingly and the committed volunteer was shaved on the spot. As the campaign continued and more money was raised, new participants volunteered to commit to shaving as well, adding new milestones to the thermometer and creating extra incentive to donate. Remarkably, over $700 was raised in the last two hours alone.
By the end of the night, over $1200 had been raised and 12 different heads had been shaved. PPO Chief Morgan Grobin, who committed at the $900 mark, was among the participants who had their heads shaved that evening. “I’m really proud of everyone who stepped up to raise money,” she said, “especially the several volunteers who weren’t PPO members and had their heads shaved.” Rowdy Day and Apocalypse Blues Pub are just two of the many events that the PPO runs annually, contributing to their total of over $10,000 donated to charity every year. None of these events would be possible, though, without dedicated and committed volunteers such as those that made last week’s Shave to Save such an unexpected and exciting success.
-James Austin