Oak Bay High students to host several fundraiser events for Cops for Cancer this September

A group of Grade 12 students at Oak Bay High School are hosting three events this September in hopes to help raise money for Cops for Cancer here on Vancouver Island. 

Students at Oak Bay High have been fundraising alongside the Tour de Rock for over twenty years, and have raised nearly $1 million over that period of time. 

Cops for Cancer is a nationwide annual fundraising event where first responders and police agencies partner with the Canadian Cancer Society. 

On Vancouver Island, participants take on Tour de Rock, traversing the island over the course of 14 days with the aim of supporting pediatric cancer research and programs like Camp Goodtimes. 

To help Tour de Rock participants, Grade 12 students Skye, Sally, Ewan and Saul have taken on the organization of three fundraiser events in September: a car wash, a garage sale and a bottle drive. 

“We are a group of seventeen-year-olds that are entering our last year of high school,” Skye told Victoria Buzz. 

“All of us have been helping run the fundraiser for two years or more, which has involved organizing volunteers, leading events and influencing student morale to raise awareness and money.”

The car wash will operate by donation on Saturday, September 12th, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. 

At the garage sale on Saturday, September 19th, students will be on hand selling toys, clothes, books, sporting goods, kitchen items and more from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the school’s small gymnasium. 

The day before the garage sale, Friday, September 18th, students will be accepting donations from the community to be sold at the fundraiser. 

The bottle drive will be held on Saturday, September 26th from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the back parking lot of Oak Bay High. The student organizers encourage community members to drop off any bottles they may have.

“Our hopes include raising awareness for the cause, building community within Oak Bay, and giving other students the chance to lead a large fundraiser,” said Skye. 

“We would like to make this year a big year for Cops For Cancer by getting as much of our school body involved as possible.”

This year’s fundraising goal for the students is to raise $30,000. Students say the record year raised over $100,000, which occurred in 2019, the year before the COVID-19 pandemic.