The owners of Boston Pizza Orleans (3884 Innes Rd. Orleans, Ontario) have once again given us the opportunity to co-host a fundraiser at their restaurant. On June 22, 2009 (one year exactly from the first hair donation and fundraiser!) they are having another celebrity server night with CTV news anchor Max Keeping! 10 % of the food sales from 5 to 9 p.m. on that night will be donated to Catherine’s Pretty Ponytails for the Canadian Cancer Society! We are thrilled!

Join us to have a good time and a great meal for a good cause…plus you get a night off from cooking/doing dishes! Micpo the balloon contortionist/magician will be there to entertain the crowd and we have already lined up some spectacular silent auction prizes and are looking for more…

The campaign has sure caught on with vigor this year. All the sponsors from last year (Regal Hair Design, The Ottawa East Star, Sure Print Graphics and Designs, Loeb Cumberland Market, and the girls school) are all on board with enthusiasm all wanting to do even better than last year. We already have 12 people signed up to donate their hair and they are allowed to collect pledges if they wish! We were in L’Express the local French paper and we will be in one of the English ones last Friday (details to follow and hopefully the links too!)

I am so excited! My hair is getting in my way and I can’t wait to cut it! I had wanted to donate my hair last year but it wasn’t long enough. I prefer to have short hair but I kept growing it so I could donate it. Will you join me?

Hi everyone,

We have the privilege of having a professional face-painter, who is donating her time and talents on May 24th as a treat for the kids/adults who are donating their hair! She is so amazingly talented and super nice! She came to our house to show us her stuff…painted 8 faces while she was here of my girls and some of their friends and they were all thrilled with how they looked. What a transformation! One parent said her son didn’t look like himself at all….he was a terrifying green monster. Funny, sometimes my youngest acts like a terrifying green monster….

Check out her work on kijiji under facepainter-Lynne Art

Hi everyone,
I just wanted to let you know that Pretty Ponytails has a group on Facebook. You can sign up to get updates and chat with other people who will be attending and donating their hair or just giving their support.
We have over 100 members already! How cool is that?!!!
Join us today – just log into Facebook and search for “Catherine’s Pretty Ponytails” Thanks!
Bye!

On Monday September 29th, Boston Pizza Orleans at 3884 Innes Rd is donating 10% of all food sales between 5 and 9 p.m. that night to Catherine’s Pretty Ponytails Campaign for the Canadian Cancer Society! There will be Lionel their mascot, a magician, a silent auction and a very special guest from CTV news! We are so pleased and grateful that Boston Pizza Orleans is helping us out with this fundraiser! Come out with your family and friends have a good time, enjoy terrific food in support of a good cause!

Look what one little idea from a young girl (with a lot of generous peoples help) has become! Amazing! Thank you all so much!

We had a great time. Yummy pizza!!! Thank you Boston Pizza Orleans, we are so glad to have “you” as a campaign supporter. We are going to be even more successful with your help!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/28367418@N05/sets/72157606057686195

Be sure to come out on Monday September 29th from 5 to 9 p.m. 10% of the total sales are going to Catherine’s Pretty Ponytails Campaign to help the Canadian Cancer Society! Great food, great cause, great time!!!

I have to say again that I am so impressed by the generousity of people. We raised over $3500 in total. We raised over $2400 on line, $200 in tickets alone (50/50 and prize draw) and about $700 was collected by Kelly from the Canadian Cancer Society on the day of the event and another $300 came in after the event. I am so pleased with the results and so proud of what my little girl started.

We aren’t done yet. Please mark Monday  September 29th from 5 to 9 p.m. on your calendars to come and have supper at Boston Pizza (on Innes Rd by the Wal-mart) 10 % of the sales that night will  be donated to Catherine’s Campaign for the Canadian Cancer Society.

I can’t believe how many young girls, young ladies and adults gave their hair for this campaign and for those who have lost their hair to cancer! What a generous group of people! You should be so proud of what you have done! Unless you know someone who has received a wig you will probably never know what a personal and cherished gift this is…I am so proud of you girls and women and I am so glad to have met you all.

You all had a story to tell and I valued every one of them. Congratulations and I bet you would like to know the total……46 hair donations!!!

Thank you all so much on behalf of Catherine and myself (Catherine’s mom-Sharon) and the people who will receive these beautiful wigs given with so much compassion and selflessness. It is truly incredible.

Keep looking in The Star there should be an article in there next week!

There are so many people and companies to thank. Regal Hair Design and the amazing people there. Jody, Eunice (her daughter Monica), Chantal, and Christine(and her husband Christopher). They worked so hard and kept things going as smoothly as humanly possible. They worked straight through and cut and styled more than 25 heads of hair!!!! Everyone came out with a smile on their face. They were all pleased witht their haircuts and proud of what they had just done. As they should be!

The Star, Len Cobb he was the one that knew me when it was clear to see this was my first fundraiser and I had no idea what I was doing. Man, have i learned a lot and the bonus I didn’t expect was that I got to meet some very giving and wonderful people! Len was on hand snapping pictures and helping out wherever he could. The Star also supplied many gifts for the draw.

Loeb Cumberland Market (Innes/Tenth Line) supplied all the hot dogs, plates, forks, serviettes,condiments…oh yeah and that gigantic cake! I couldn’t believe the size of it. I should’ve measured it. It had to be 4 feet long by at least 1 and a half feet wide!

Sure Print and Graphics on St.Joseph supplied all the flyers, invitations and business cards which definetely got us going.

Catherine’s school principal (Mr. Deschamps) , supplied tables, chairs, the stage, and the canopies.

Lacelle Signs and Designs provided the wonderful banner. It was perfect.

Boston Pizza has given us hundreds of coupons for free kids meals and when they are claimed the campaign gets 10% of the sales for the Canadian Cancer Society. They are also having a night (Monday September 29th) where 10% of all the sales that night are also going to the campaign. I am going to pack that restaurant and there is already several surprizes in the works. You are not going to want to miss it!!!

CJOH, Oldies 1310 and CFRA for broadcasting our event.
Anita from the ORLEANS BIA who gave Catherine and I a boost right at the beginning. She’s a sweetheart!

Starbucks coffee (on Innes) for supplying us with coffee for the event.

NOW TO THANK THE GENEROUS PEOPLE WHO GAVE OF THEIR TIME AND TALENTS (AND EQUIPMENT):

Councillor Rainer Bloess for promoting, attending, speaking at it and giving a gift basket to draw and giving Catherine a certificate of appreciation and a great warm up jacket with her Campaign logo on it!!!! What a nice guy!

Donna her son Dennis: She was so supportive and opened doors for me that I wouldn’t have been able to get to and was great with the moral support too. When I felt overwhelmed she was always there to remind me of the important stuff and to forget the rest. I am so glad to have gotten to know her better. Dennis is an inspriration and it’s so nice when I see him riding his bike to school with his younger sister. It makes me realize what is important in life and what’s not.

My good friend Andrea…I was such a pest! I thought for sure she would tell me to go fly a kite. She was amazing. The way she whipped out the designs for the flyers and helped me set up the blog. Now I’m a pro!

Donna from the Canadian Cancer Society: She set me up and led me in the right direction.

Kelly , from the Canadian Cancer Society, she collected the donations on the day of the event and she gave a really nice speech and brought her beautiful red headed daughter with her. She and her daughter are wonderful and so positive!

My brother in law Andrew who set up the canopies and everything with my hubby like they did this everyday and moved everything with his truck and trailer.

My sister Heather who was the DJ and her partner Wendy who assisted and sold 50/50 tickets. The music was great and set the right tone so we didn’t need our kleenex box.

My oldest daughter Kimberly who “drew” and announced the winning tickets and kept things going while I was getting my hair cut.

Tassy Lyras from Mary Kay cosmetics, she provided my biggest helpers with a gift and she donated a gift basket valued at $100!

My friend Louise who did all the translating. My French is okay but I needed this to be professional looking.

My dad who came to help set up and take down all the equipment.

Alasdair, my brother in law, who helped out where needed and didn’t even need to be asked.

I can’t forget all the companies that gave prizes to draw…we raised $200 in 50/50 and draw prize tickets alone!
My Favourite Chinese Restaurant (across the street from Regal Hair Design)
Pizza Hut (on St. Joseph Blvd.)
Really Lebanese (across the street from Regal too)
Orleans Bakery( on St. Joseph Blvd.)
Sandy’s Saddlery (provided the pretty pink cowgirl hat)
Home Depot (Innes near tenth line)
Casa Luna (on Innes)
Gabriel Pizza (on Innes)
Pharma Plus (Orleans Gardens)
Rogers Video (Orleans Gardens)
Mer Bleue Golf
Moji’s Italian Bistro (in the Market)
IPLAY (in the same mall as Regal)
Henry’s (Innes and tenth line)

I have to say I am very blessed to have a family that stands behind me/each other, friends that are encouraging, helpful and full of great ideas. Not only that but I met more terrific people while I was doing this. People that I have connected with and made new friends. This whole experience has restored my faith in humanity which I have to admit was getting pretty negative. Definetely a life lesson for me and my girls. I strongly recommend volunteering for a good cause it does your spirit good and is so rewarding in so many ways.