Montreal teacher shaves off locks after students raise $26K for Terry Fox Run
Lara Belinsky challenged students at Willingdon Elementary School in NDG to double last year's donations
A Montreal elementary school teacher who promised to shave her head if students beat a fundraising milestone for the Terry Fox Run honoured her end of the deal Friday.
Lara Belinsky, the physical education teacher at Willingdon Elementary School in Montreal's Notre-Dame-de-Grâce neighbourhood, had promised students that if they doubled the school's usual donation from $8,500 to $15,000, she would cut off all her dark, curly hair in front of them.
What the crowd of students didn't know Friday is that fundraising efforts brought in a grand total of $26,506.70 for cancer research.
"After raising almost double of what I challenged you to and in the years that I've been at Willingdon, we've raised three times more than you have ever raised," Belinsky said.
With the help of her students and students from the Laurier McDonald Career Centre, Belinsky danced as her hair was cut off on an outdoor stage, one ponytail at a time.
"Terry Fox taught us so many things but one of my favourite things is that Terry could also focus on what he had, not what the didn't have," she said.
"Please let the Terry Fox dream live in each and every one of you."
Belinsky wasn't the only staff member to make a promise to the students. One teacher kissed a turtle, other staff members let students throw a pie at their faces and the school principal belted out karaoke in front of the crowd.
