By Jenn Watt

On the afternoon of Thursday, Sept. 3, Sally Moore wants community members to help lift her spirits and raise money for the Minden Rotary Club by donating their spare change and bringing good cheer as she says goodbye to her hair.

Moore, co-owner of Sunny Rock Bed and Breakfast in Minden Hills, is undergoing chemotherapy for breast cancer and said she wanted to have an event to celebrate her soon-to-be-bald head and help out the local service club, which funds many community initiatives.

The afternoon event, titled A Humorous, Cutting Edge, Spirit Lifting Extravaganza, will be following strict COVID-19 protocols, held outside the bed and breakfast rain or shine, with all visitors wearing masks and observing proper physical distancing rules. Moore is asking people not to congregate, keeping the visit short. (Obviously, anyone not feeling well should not attend.) She will also be asking for some help cutting her hair and for guests to arrive wearing funny hats.

“The chemo drugs I am taking are making me lose my hair,” Moore wrote in an email about her upcoming event, “as you know, I am not a wig wearer so I will be celebrating my baldness in style with a fundraiser and funny and weird hats.”

She won’t be putting on the hats and attendees should expect to take their hats home with them, but they will help Moore visualize creative ways to adorn her newly bald head.

“Visitors will be asked to bring and empty their loose change jars,” she said. “Each of us [has] at least one or more cash jars for those coins collected in purses and pockets. Who is using cash these days anyway? Please bring all your loose change with you and let us roll it up for you and give it to an excellent community cause … the Minden Rotary.” Cash and cheques are also accepted.

For those who cannot attend the event, donations can be dropped off at Sunny Rock Bed and Breakfast until noon on Monday, Sept. 7. They can also be made online at mindenrotary.ca.

Moore, who is a Rotarian, and her family will match the amount raised between Sept. 3 and noon on Sept. 7.

“Please bring a joke, poem and something to share with everyone in attendance,” Moore said. “As we all well know, laughter is the best medicine. Please resist the urge to bring cards. Save a tree.” Attendees may want to bring two toonies, however, for an as-yet-undisclosed game.

No public washrooms are available – another COVID-19 precaution.

“Come participate, celebrate my baldness with me and donate please,” she said.

A Humorous, Cutting Edge, Spirit Lifting Extravaganza takes place at Sunny Rock Bed and Breakfast on Thursday, Sept. 3 from 1 to 5 p.m. The bed and breakfast can be found at the end of Scott’s Dam Road, off County Road 1 near Ingoldsby.