Today (Friday 18 September), over 100 students at St Bede’s shaved their heads to raise funds for the charity, CanTeen. 

CanTeen supports young people between the ages of 12-24 living with cancer. As we all know, cancer has an impact on the lives of many New Zealanders, including our own families and friends, so it is important to the students at St Bede’s that we are able to show our support.

Every second year at St Bede’s we have “Run for a Life” to support Canteen. 160 boys would run from seven locations across the South Island, back to Christchurch to raise money for CanTeen. Unfortunately, like many other events this year, “Run for a Life” was cancelled due to Covid-19.

However, this was not going to stop us helping out CanTeen. The idea of a head shave was first mentioned in a Zoom call back in April during the Covid-19 lockdown. If we weren’t able to “Run for a Life” we were at least going to shave our hair for a life.

And so we did. Over 100 boys signed up and shaved their heads in solidarity for other teenagers living with cancer. A special mention goes to Miss Festa who joined her students in having her hair shaved. Hair: curly and straight, long and short, was shorn off to raise money. The fundraising effort has been awesome and has epitomized our Bedean values and the aroha we have for CanTeen. We have received fantastic support from the wider St Bede’s community and beyond. As a school, we have raised over $61,000. Our initial goal was $10,000 but the amount just kept growing, and continues to grow!

Donations will still be accepted so please feel free to donate at our Everyday Hero page. Simply follow this link and click the “Give Now” button.

https://canteen.everydayhero.com/nz/team-st-bede-s-college-headshave

A huge thank you goes out to everyone who has donated and helped support this cause. Whether that was through sharing Facebook posts, or spreading the word through family and friends, it has been hugely appreciated.

Another thank you goes to the barbers who made the head shave possible. We would not have been able to hold the head shave without the support from My Fathers Barbers, VJ Barbers, Hidden in Hair, Hair on Mayfield, and Mike Mcintyre who volunteered their time to come in and shave heads. In return let's support these generous Christchurch businesses.

In a year with many disappointments, uncertainties and setbacks, it is great to see so much energy put towards something positive and inspiring within our community.