Carleton’s 2014 Shinerama campaign, which runs throughout Fall Orientation week and into September raising money for cystic fibrosis (CF) research, won the Most Improved Campaign at the charity’s national awards.
The winners were announced in December and were chosen from among 60 university and college campuses across Canada.
Since 1964, Shinerama has raised nearly $25 million dollars for life-saving CF research and care for people suffering from the disease. CF is the most common fatal genetic disease affecting Canadian children and young adults, according to Cystic Fibrosis Canada. The disease affects the body in various ways, but mainly targets the digestive system and lungs. There is currently no cure.
“Carleton has participated in Shinerama since 1984, and has raised an astounding $1,227,821 in that time,” said Sara Glover, Shinerama’s national chair.
In 2014, Carleton students raised $38,192, “close to double what was raised the year prior” according to Sarah Sabourin, student development and community outreach co-ordinator at Carleton’s Student Experience Office.
Carleton’s fundraising efforts peaked in 2002 when the Shinerama campaign raised more than $80,000. But the campaign saw a significant drop in donations in 2005 when Carleton only raised $25,216.
The lowest ever raised was in 2007 when Carleton only raised $20, 279 for Shinerama.
Since then, Carleton’s efforts have steadily increased.
“I don’t think we had bad participation last year, but I think this year we made a serious effort to make Shinerama a priority. When you get everyone on the same page, then that’s when change happens.” said Shayla Kelly, the 2014 Shinerama co-ordinator for Carleton.
Kelly said she believes this improvement would have been impossible without the support of student groups on campus and the Student Experience Office.
“From an organization standpoint, we all made the choice to make it successful, and the participants did just that,” she said.
Selin Kum, one of the Fall Orientation co-ordinators, said the campaign’s success was because more people participated compared to previous years.
“There was a completely different strategy,” she said. “The reason that the whole week was so amazing was that we had more participation that we ever had before.”
Schools that participate in Shinerama are invited to submit nomination forms for five national awards. The national Shinerama chair and Cystic Fibrosis Canada staff members decide on the winners by evaluating the success of the school’s campaign based on different criteria. This year, Queen’s University won the best overall campaign.
According to Glover, Carleton won the Most Improved Award for showing the most dramatic improvement in promotion of awareness of CF on campus, implementing new ideas and recruiting large numbers of participants.
Kum also said Carleton was “working smarter” this year and included incentives for volunteers, such as a free ticket to a Red Blacks game, which culminated the Frosh Week campaign.
Another incentive was connecting the amount of money raised to team colours and names.
“The team that shined the least would get the colour people wanted the least,” Kum said.
As a result of money raised through campaigns like Shinerama, Glover said the median age of survival of Canadians with CF is among the highest in the world.
“Cystic Fibrosis Canada is so grateful for the hard work and dedication that Carleton students have in the fight against cystic fibrosis, which directly supports many Ottawa families affected by CF,” she said.
