Representatives from the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation recently honoured the Queen's Gaels rugby team for its participation in the CIBC Run for the Cure for more than a decade. During that time, the rugby program has raised over $150,000 for breast cancer research.

The Queen’s Gaels men’s rugby team, one of several campus groups raising money for breast cancer research, was recently recognized by the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation.

“The honour feels fantastic,” says rugby team captain David Slattery. “We have been participating in the CIBC Run for the Cure for the last 11 years, and it’s something we look forward to every year. We are very happy and proud that it’s a collective, Queen’s movement.”

Since 1999 the rugby program has raised over $150,000 for the cause. The women’s and men’s teams collected $34,000 for this year’s run and received the Friends and Family Award.

Poonam Batra and her Team Purple also participated in the Run for the Cure, raising over $20,000 for the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation. Team Purple won the overall School Team Challenge Award while Ms Batra herself came in third place as the Top Fundraising Individual.

Ms Batra was diagnosed with breast cancer this past January. The news came as a shock to the otherwise healthy, 25-year-old medical student. Throughout her treatment, she experienced the support of the entire School of Medicine as she wrestled with her illness.

“I am so proud that Team Purple could do so much to support breast cancer research,” says Ms Batra.

In another initiative, seven student societies, eight student services, 13 athletics teams, and hundreds of other Queen’s community members wore pink in October to honour breast cancer survivors. On Queen’s Wears Pink Day, over 200 students and faculty gathered on Tindall Field for a memorable celebration.

The Queen’s Wears Pink Campaign sold 1,596 pink T-shirts and raised well over $7,000 – all for breast cancer research.

“It was incredible to see the campaign gain traction throughout Breast Cancer Awareness Month and to begin to see more and more ‘Queen’s Wears Pink’ T-shirts showing up all across campus,” says event organizer Adam Mitchell (Commerce ’11). “The culmination of all our efforts and support was Queen’s Wears Pink Day, when the campus was painted pink with T-shirts and students could feel the impact we can have on our community.”

Queen’s students share their reasons for wearing pink in this video.