HOT pink: Gender stereotypes be darned as it's their colour of choice.
For a group of recent male University of Victoria grads, the neon hue is the perfect means of garnering attention for a cause close to their hearts - breast cancer prevention and awareness.
They're members of Top Guns, a non-profit that sees students organize fundraising events and sell retrothemed sunglasses and other items at their respective post-secondary institutions. The charity was founded by University of Calgary student Kenneth Heinbecker in 2007. He and his peers sold Tom Cruise-inspired aviators as a means of raising funds for the Canadian Cancer Society. The movement spread to the University of British Columbia, where North Shore native Bear Johal, a Rockridge secondary grad, happened to attend a fundraising event.
"I was inspired by it, obviously, it was a great way to socialize and also raise money for charity," he says.
Johal, 23, returned to the University of Victoria where he was studying English and in 2010 encouraged his friends, primarily Gustavson School of Business students, to help him launch their own Top Guns chapter. Together they sold aviators and other trending sunglasses like wayfarers, as well as hosted events.
Having graduated this year, Johal, who serves as director of events, and his partners not only wanted to ensure Top Guns continued to be a part of UVic, they wanted to encourage students at other post-secondary institutions to launch their own chapter. To that end, they've embarked on an 80-day cross-Canada campus road trip.
"We're trying to expand our charity concept, which has been so successful for us," he says.
Pink is, of course, playing an important role in their journey, seeing them dress in the colour (at times from head-to-toe in flight uniforms) and travel in a similarly-hued van.
While breast cancer awareness might seem like an odd choice for a group of early-20-something males to tackle, that's specifically the reason they've adopted it as their own. Fellow UVic grad and Top Guns member Cam MacQueen, a 22-year-old Handsworth secondary alumnus, says while it's a tad peculiar for men to be donning pink and promoting breast cancer awareness, that's what makes Top Guns so unique.
"We've all known someone who's had breast cancer and it's affected us," says MacQueen, director of marketing. "So this is our way of giving back to the women in our lives who've meant so much to us - our grandparents, our mothers, sisters (and) girlfriends."
"At the end of the day we're just spreading breast cancer awareness," he adds.
The team, all volunteers, launched their tour at UVic Sept. 6 and were in the Lower Mainland this week, presenting events at Simon Fraser University and Ceili's Irish Pub downtown.
Funds raised from their journey, through donations and the sale of shades, T-shirts and hats, will go towards the purchase of a tissue processor for the Royal Jubilee Hospital and a film digitizer for the Victoria General Hospital costing approximately $135,000.
Each new Top Guns chapter is encouraged to raise funds to meet the needs of their specific community.
Members of the public are encouraged to support Top Guns by making a donation, as well, can "Like" them on Facebook. For a limited time, for every "Like" received, sponsors will donate $1 towards their fundraising goal.
The tour will wrap up in St. John's, N.L. at the end of November.
For more information on Top Guns, visit www.topgunscharity.ca.
