CREDIT: JERROLD RUNDLE
Fanshawe Special Const. Luke Edwards shaved his locks for Cops for Cancer, a charity fundraiser for the Canadian Cancer Society.

Over 20 members of the London and St. Thomas Police Services, Fanshawe College and Western University campus police gathered with members of the OPP at Masonville Place for a new haircut on October 18.

Cops for Cancer is an annual fundraising charity, which included silent auction items like tickets to a pre-practice with Leafs players at the Air Canada Centre and the added bonus of seeing officers shave their heads for charity.

The event is in its 11th year and Fanshawe campus police have participated in four.

The event has raised almost $125,000 according to Krista Kankula, fundraising co-ordinator with the Canadian Cancer Society.

Special Constables Brent Arseneault and Luke Edwards were at the event, with Arseneault DJ-ing and Edwards getting his head shaved.

“My mom lost her battle in 1998, so I do this event for awareness and out of respect for my mother and anyone still fighting,” Arseneault said.

Special Const. Edwards also had personal reasons for the head shave.

“My mom was diagnosed five years ago with non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, which is similar to leukemia but in the Lymph nodes,” he said. “She’s been in remission for three years so I do this for her.”

The event also provided in-community experience for Fanshawe students in the Police Foundations and Paramedic programs who helped with donation collection throughout the day.

Second-year student Jeremy Van- Bommel also participated as part of the College’s Student Auxiliary unit.

He said the event was a way for him to connect with people, showing how community policing can help the public, while remembering family lost to the disease.

First-year Police Foundations student Taylor Normandeu volunteered after seeing a friend’s mother diagnosed with breast cancer.

Her friend participated in a local head-shaving event and the action sparked Normandeu into volunteering. She also said she thought the event was a good way to help in the community.

The clippers and stylists who made the event possible were Brittany Hillier, Angela Sebekos, Nicole Nettleton and Meghan Boyd from The Cut Above – the salon, which has been participating for 11 years now.

With a $1,000 cheque from regional branches of National Bank and more than $17,300 raised before silent auctions closed, Kankula said the event had been pretty successful so far this year, while also acknowledging those in Blue.

“I want to give a general thanks to the officers for their 11 years and all who participated.”