The Initial Breakdown

This is what Meg and I talked about at our first meeting on Thursday:

We want CIFC to happen at the end of February.

Venue - ideally we'd love to have it at the Comedy Bar. (Meg has worked in the space before and said it would be perfect!)

Entertainment and Artwork - we need a mission statement or else it could get out of hand. We want this event to cater to the likes of recent (or soon to be) graduates like ourselves. We want this not only to be the party people will be talking about for the rest of the year, but so they can also say it was an amazing networking experience that will further their careers and goals in the fine arts field. We listed some friends (Jeff Blackburn, James McEleney, Heather Phillips, Aitch, Brandon Robins, Kidgib, the Short and Curlies, Krystin Waterworth, Derek Vandervinne, Wayland Gill.... just to name a few) that we want to approach, but that's the fun stuff, we had more serious things to also figure out.

Our goal - how were going to reach it and what seemed an acceptable amount to reach for. I was thinking $10thousand, but I've always been ambitious. It seems like we need 6 ponytails to make a wig and 2 wigs would be an awesome goal. We brainstormed the many ways we could reach those goals: pledges, canvassing, sponsors and corporate donations, ticket purchases, and from the silent auction.

Then we realized with the short time between now and the end of February we'd need to ask for a lot of favours and help from our friends. We then made a list of our reliable friends and set that aside to contact them later.

Itinerary of the Event - this is where we got all dreamy!

• cocktail/social hour (to peruse the silent auction before it opens and to enjoy the light entertainment)
• Silent Auction opens
• Opening speeches
• Haircut countdown (then styled in another room)
• Speeches and cheque presentation
• Entertainment

We started researching local cancer support organizations, and working out a rough budget. Meg printed out information from Pantene Pro V's website. We then started to worry about the legalities of everything - how do we make ourselves legit to the rest of the world without seeming like a scam or a bunch of street-rats asking for money for a haircut.... but we decided we'd do some more research separately and bring it all back to the table at our next meeting: Thursday, October 2nd.

Here We Are!!

So we finally did it.

We stopped casually talking about it, we stopped saying how well we could do this, we stopped daydreaming. Meg and I (Steph) finally got together and started making this a reality.

What is this you ask?

Cuttin' It For Cancer (CIFC) is an idea Meg and I have talked about for ages (well, at least for the past summer months over cocktails and beers on Toronto's hottest patios). We talked about how we know so many people affected by cancer in numerous ways and how we wished there was something we could do other than just cutting our hair. And that's when the brain-child was born. We realized every little bit counts, no matter how small or insignificant it may seem, it all contributes to the larger picture. I have always wanted to cut my hair, I just have never had short hair past the age of 5, and for some, like me, that kind of change can be dirastic. However for me, that is a personal choice... for those who lose their hair due to cancer treatments, that is involuntary and can be apart of the trauma. It was my 16 year old cousin who said she was going to be donating her hair to Pantene and that really inspired me. As for Meg, I'm sure she always had it in her to want to make this kind of statement. Thankfully, the both of us shared these decisions with each other before persuing individual paths to the same cause.

Meg had this vision all along. And let me tell you, she is a fantastic and talented person, she has a degree in Theatre Production (if we are going to be technical) and so much experience in the field its astonishing. Meg lives for children theatre, but currently works on shows of various types. Meg is also one of my closest friends, I haven't known her for very long, but there is no way to describe our connection, but she makes me laugh and that is such an important quality in friends of mine. As for what this has to do with CIFC, she wanted to show to everyone that we are all capable of doing acts of selflessness and the way that she was going to do it was the best way she knows how - throw an amazing party. Awesome-crazy-times-to-be-had aside, she's very serious about it. She had her vision all planned out. An amazing venue, filled with networking artists and purchasers/enjoyers of art, silent auction, hair cutting ceremony, live entertainment all night long... And when she professed this to me, my heart almost skipped a beat with delight.

As for me, I have always been the type to do "these" sort of things. From the school dances in grade school, to Oktoberfest and Mayfair in high school, not to mention prom, all the way to off-campus weekend trips with my college and becoming President of a Student Union and CEO of the last student run pub at York University. I'm still working on my degree in Visual Arts, but I'll get one of these days.... My mother always asks me, "what are you getting yourself into now these days?" in the tone of Oooh-my-goodness-not-another-crazy-idea-of-my-daughter's. She means well, but I think its kind of been my calling. The only difference about my past extravagant events is that they have always been tied to a student government of sorts and providing services and events to constituents paying money into membership. The thought of charity work just seemed some much more fulfilling, but I just didn't know how to actualize it.

So Meg and I found each other, and its a good thing too. I can whole-heartedly say that I think it was fate and that we are two of the most perfect people to pull something to this callibur off - even if it is a first time event! We have amazing abilities to visualize, organize and actualize goals. Let's hope it was all that money we put into post-secondary education, or maybe it was all that time outside of the classroom that was equally important. We also realized we had an aray of contacts and networks that could help us along the way, not to mention a great group of supportive friends and family members with equal talent.

We got together today to start the ball rolling, to put our ideas down on paper and to voice this idea to the world. We are going to do this, and its going to be amazing!

And here we are!