Cops for Cancer event Saturday

There was a preview of what to expect last Thursday at this Saturday's Cops For Cancer event at Upper Canada Mall as child cancer survivor Kavina Pecile, 9, of Aurora, buzzed the heads of EMS Director of Operations Norm Barrette and Police Superintendent Gene Kerrigan.

York Region Emergency Personnel and the Canadian Cancer Society are looking for sponsors for this year's Cops for Cancer event, hosted by York Regional Police, which will take place this Saturday (May 5) in the centre court on the lower level of Upper Canada Mall in Newmarket.

From 11 a.m. until 3 p.m., emergency services workers - both male and female - will have their heads shaved in public after collecting pledges from coworkers, friends and members of the community. The participants will have their heads shaved by volunteers from the community and students from Alexander Mackenzie High School, under the supervision of Karen Dodd, a hair stylist from Barrie, who will donate her services for the day and ensure that the members involved will donate only their hair and not their ears.

York Regional Police Chief Armand La Barge will be at the event, encouraging onlookers to participate in this very worthwhile event, in addition to the York Regional Police Pipes and Drums band who will perform for the crowd.

Cops for Cancer got its start in 1994 when a sergeant with the Edmonton Police Service met a fiveyear old boy who had cancer. The boy was being teased at school because of his hair loss due to chemotherapy. The officer, whose head was already shaved, gathered a group of officers who shaved their heads to show the other students that being bald was cool.

Since that time, the campaign has raised more than $16 million dollars for cancer research nationwide and $160,000 in York Region. Last year the York event raised more than $39,000.

Police hope to raise in excess of $42,000 during this year's initiative.

If you would like to sponsor a member of York Regional Police or would like more information about Cops for Cancer, call Sergeant Allison Smith at 1- 866-876-5423, ext 7200, or Sergeant Jim Slykhuis at ext. 7703.