A Queen’s University student club is making a statement against cancer, a big one. Cure Cancer Classic, based in the Commerce Society at Smith School of Business, has just finished raising more than $620,000 for the Canadian Cancer Society, an incredible 40 per cent increase over last year’s already impressive total of $450,000. This year’s donation cements the club’s growing reputation as one of the largest independent Hockey Fights Cancer fundraisers in North America and increases the total they’ve given since their founding to $1.92 million.
The club raises funds by hosting a series of four events over the academic year, culminating in the Commerce vs. Engineering Rivalry Game. This annual hockey game was recently held in front of a sold-out crowd of more than 5,000 fans at Slush Puppie Place in downtown Kingston. The game raised $340,000, adding to the $290,000 the club had received through its Cure Cancer Classic Golf Tournament and two other hockey tournaments earlier in the year, the Commerce Classic and the Queen’s Classic.
The Queen’s Gazette recently spoke with the current co-chairs of Cure Cancer Classic, Kate Sheedy and Justin Tanenbaum, both fourth-year commerce students, to find out how they pulled off this fundraising achievement and what drives their team of students to devote hours each week to the fight against cancer.
From last year to this year, the Cure Cancer Classic increased its donation total by about $180,000. How did you achieve such a big jump from one year to the next?
Kate Sheedy (KS): There’s not one big thing we can point to explain the increase. It’s more that a number of little things helped us grow. We ran more small-scale fundraisers than we have in the past, things like merchandise and cookie sales and some small events, like hockey watch parties at the Brass Pub with a $5 entrance fee that would be donated.
We also saw some of our events grow this year as well. The Cure Cancer Classic Golf Tournament and the Commerce Classic both had more participants than ever before, which led to us having more attendees and more donations.
We also received some generous donations from individuals. Stephen J.R. Smith, Sc’72, LLD’17, who came to the game to cheer on both Smith Business and Smith Engineering, the faculties named in recognition of his donations, gave us $10,000. All these things just add up into that $630,000 total, which we never would have thought we’d hit when we started this year’s campaign.
Justin Tanenbaum (JT): That’s right. We originally set our goal at $500,000 and weren’t even sure we’d hit that. We also got a lot of generous support from Cure Cancer Classic alumni, as well as Smith Business and Smith Engineering alumni. Everyone who’s taken part in the Cure Cancer Classic since it started in 2005 is passionate about the cause, and we made a really concerted effort to reach out to them.
Everyone on the executive and all the players also really embraced our shared goal of maximizing our impact on the Canadian Cancer Society. With fundraising, there’s no limit, right? You can always try to get more. And everyone on our team took that to heart and sent out those extra emails to keep raising our totals.
How many students are involved in Cure Cancer Classic and how much time do they devote to it throughout the year?
KS: We have 36 students on our executive. Most are from Commerce, but we also have three from Engineering and two from Arts and Science. And they do everything from logistics to marketing to sponsorship deals. Since we organize four big events throughout the academic year, we really only have about six to seven weeks to prepare for each one. I’m impressed with our team for pulling it off in such a short amount of time. It’s an intense schedule and needs an all-hands-on-deck approach.
JT: I’d say everyone on the executive is putting in at least three to five hours a week on fundraising and event preparation. In the weeks leading up to the Comm-Eng rivalry game, Kate and I were probably spending about 20 hours a week preparing. It’s a lot of work, but when we all stood on centre ice before the game, we looked at each other and knew all the effort was worth it.
That’s a lot of work for students to balance with their coursework and other commitments. What do you think inspires your team to work so hard?
JT: I think the Cure Cancer Classic is a personal outlet for the whole team’s ongoing fight against cancer, which has affected us all in one way or another. Every hour we put in and every dollar we raise is fueled by this collective motivation. And this shared commitment really binds us together and makes us a stronger, more unified and more tight-knit group. We feed off each other's energy and passion and motivation to push ourselves to do more.
KS: Students really want to join Cure Cancer Classic to help fight cancer. Every year we have a record number of applications to be on the executive. Students are passionate about this club and our cause.
Are the funds you raised being directed to a specific lab or type of cancer research?
KS: Most of our donations to the Canadian Cancer Society are directed to the Canadian Cancer Trials Group (CCTG), an amazing research network that is based right here at Queen’s. And the rest are directed to the lab of Dr. Zadeh in Toronto, which specializes in brain tumours. We worked with the Canadian Cancer Society to find this lab because two members of our executive have had family members affected by glioblastoma tumours, and we wanted to support research related to that type of cancer. Every dollar that we raise is matched dollar-for-dollar through the Canadian Cancer Society.
JT: We’re excited to donate to CCTG because not only are we supporting the cause against cancer, we’re also helping support a locally based organization.
What were some of the highlights of this year’s game?
JT: We’re both in Commerce, so it was nice to see our team win. But what really stands out are the moments when we were all reminded of the game’s greater purpose. Despite one side being filled with blue for Commerce and the other side with purple for Engineering, we were all standing united as one group and you really felt like our passion is bigger than cancer.
KS: I think the defining moment for me was seeing the cancer survivor come out. Each year, we have a survivor come out onto the ice to drop the puck at the start of the game. This year, it was Brock Powell. He had lost a couple family members to cancer and then was diagnosed with it himself. But after treatment, he’s now completely cancer free. It was really amazing to see 5,000 fans cheering in his honour. You could tell he was tearing up. Just being there and knowing that what we're doing is going towards bettering the lives of people like Brock is a feeling I'll never forget.
What’s next for the Cure Cancer Classic? Are you going to top $600k again next year?
KS: I’m hoping that next year’s executive will be able to top it, but it’s important not to get too fixated on the number. I’m hopeful that the club can do great things again next year though. Participation in our tournaments keeps growing, and The Globe and Mail published a story about us, which I think will really help spread the word about what we do.
JT: Last year when we raised $450,000 I remember thinking there’s no way we’d be able to top that. So you never know. Cure Cancer Classic has continued to grow year over year, especially over the past several years. We have a strong foundation and we can keep adding to it with new ideas and initiatives, so I hope we can keep our fundraising on that upward trajectory.
This story originally appeared on the Gazette website.
