Monica Morrison, executive director at the Golden Circle Resource Centre, willingly had her head shaved on June 5 after over $11,000 was raised in support of programs and services that benefit local seniors. Morrison offered to have her head shaved if at least $10,000 was raised. (rdnewsNOW / Sheldon Spackman)

By Sheldon Spackman

Supportive Community

Golden Circle benefits from head shaving fundraiser

Jun 5, 2020 | 2:56 PM

Local seniors stand to benefit from a special fundraiser held over the past two weeks, aimed at boosting programs and services at Red Deer’s Golden Circle Resource Centre.

Monica Morrison, executive director at the Golden Circle, pledged on May 23 to shave her head if central Albertans were able to raise $10,000 in support of the facility.

On June 5, that milestone was surpassed with well over $11,395 raised, and counting.

Morrison says the money raised will go a long way towards ensuring the work that they do will continue during COVID-19.

“We are still open doing outreach work,” she explains. “But with programs and all that being cancelled, and a dining room not being open, we’ve lost a lot of revenue. So how are we going to make that up?”

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Morrison says it was that situation that gave her the idea to consider a new haircut.

“I came into work one Friday morning and said, “I had a dream last night that I’m thinking maybe I should shave my head. Do you think people would do that and support it?” recalls Morrison. “Obviously you can see that they did.”

A nervous Monica Morrison anxiously awaits the wrath of some clippers.

Morrison says the community response to the initiative has been overwhelming.

“What it says to myself and the board of directors, as an organization, we must be important to the community,” gushes Morrison. “A lot of the donations came from the members themselves. That tells us we are important and they just want to make sure that we get through COVID-19 and the end of the year in a good place.”

No turning back for Morrison at ths point, as dozens cheer on her commitment to the community.

Although the organization is still waiting on some grant application approvals, Morrison admits every little bit helps.

“We’ve got a plan to get us to December 31 and if everything comes through, then we’ll be fine,” adds Morrison. “We did have in our budget so many fundraising dollars, but with having to cancel a couple of fundraising events that had been planned for 2020, we needed to find different ways to make it up.”

Morrison shocked as she sees her new reflection in the window for the first time.

Morrison hopes the head shaving fundraiser also helps raise their profile in the community, at a time when many organizations are fundraising to survive.

“This is for the older population where we can go to and have fun and enjoy life,” she exclaims. “I just want to thank everybody for their support at this point, but also to keep us in mind when they’re doing their charity giving. Golden Circle is a non-profit organization that’s registered with Revenue Canada, so we do give out tax receipts.”

June 1-7 is Senior’s Week in Alberta.