Last year, Katie Bookout decided to fundraise for cancer research in celebration of her 29th birthday and after a very successful campaign, the local Moose Javian has brought her fundraiser back for a second year — with some new twists.
Bookout’s cancer fundraiser launched at the beginning of the month, sharing all the details of her various fundraising activities on a Facebook event and highlighting the many local businesses that have partnered with her goal.
“This year, I wanted to ensure that I supported as local as possible, so we actually have three different fundraisers running,” said Bookout.
The feature item in this year’s fundraiser, said Bookout, is a partnership with local business Ripley Prints, selling custom-designed apparel with various cancer-related sayings like “Stronger Together” and “Suck It Cancer.”
The apparel line features baby apparel as well as youth and adult-sized shirts and sweatshirts, with $20 from each item sold donated towards Bookout’s cause. Pre-orders will close on Sept. 11, with the final deadline to purchase an item from Bookout’s apparel line closing on Sept. 18.
Bookout also has a raffle running for a gift basket full of goodies from other local businesses, which she is excited to show off as it's valued at over $500, and an online art auction of some of her own personal pieces — both featured on the fundraiser’s event page on Facebook, where people can purchase raffle tickets or bid on auction items.
Bookout set an initial goal of raising $2,900 last year for her 29th birthday, with Moose Jaw stepping up and overshooting her goal to raise $3,000 to donate to the Canadian Cancer Society.
This year, Bookout is hoping the community will help her raise another $3,000 to donate to the Allan Blair Cancer Centre in Regina, and she’s already off to a good start.
“It’s actually been a little bit surprising, the first day we launched the apparel [on Sept. 7] for preorders, the numbers just kept growing. We had $1,250 in the first day, for sales, and that’s all donated to the fundraiser,” said Bookout.
Bookout is happy to see the enthusiastic response, as raising awareness and supporting cancer research is an important cause close to her heart. She chose to organize this fundraiser as someone who has lost family to cancer.
“I actually lost two grandparents to cancer, as well as an uncle. And my dad was diagnosed with stage four cancer a year ago, in January, so he was definitely a big factor as to why I wanted to help raise money for cancer,” said Bookout.
She has also seen that hosting a community-wide fundraiser like this one has really resonated with others who have been touched by cancer.
“Cancer is a big one that really resonates for people. I know that it can be painful, it can be scary, but I want to make sure that I’m just raising awareness and giving people the opportunity to know they’re not alone,” said Bookout. “It feels pretty good to know that there are a lot of people out there who are going through the same thing.”
Bookout’s fundraiser will wrap up on Sept. 25, with the raffle draw and the conclusion of the art auction.
For more information on how to get involved, check out the Facebook event titled Cancer Fundraiser: Katie’s 30th.
