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By Deborah Gyapong
 | | Cutline: Catholic students practice bear hugs at the launch of Bear Hug III, a fundraiser aimed at defeating cancer. |
OTTAWA Catholic high school students hope to raise $500,000 to fight cancer -- by breaking the World Record for the largest Bear Hug, or group hug, ever.
If all goes according to plan, some 16,000 students from 15 Ottawa Catholic schools will encircle the Rideau Canal May 7; they will embrace with arms around each other's waists, and hold on as a helicopter flies overhead to record that the group hug is unbroken for a specified time.
"This is your chance to strut your stuff," said CTV Ottawa news anchor Max Keeping, who acted as master of ceremonies for a press briefing, where students from across the Ottawa Catholic School Board gathered at Immaculata High School.
He said the students would "show the world -- and the world will be watching -- what kind of community we have here in Ottawa."
Dubbed Bear Hug III, the fundraiser will be the third of its kind in Ottawa. The first in 2004 entered the Guinness Book of World Records for the longest Bear Hug.
The first, originating at St. Matthew High School, raised $118,000 and held boasting rights to the world title for two years. Bear Hug II raised $318,000, setting a Canadian national record. On May 7, the students hope to capture the world title back.
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"Today you enlist in the army that says we will find a cure," said Keeping, a cancer survivor who has been in remission for more than six years.
Bear Hug III's Catholic students are in partnership with the Ottawa Senators hockey team's charitable Sens Foundation, which supports cancer patient care and research through several Ottawa hospitals.
Ottawa Catholic School Board deputy director Julian Hanlon said he was excited about Bear Hug III and the opportunity for students to get involved in the community. "When students graduate, we want them to realize what community service is all about," he said.
Senators forward Nick Foligno is the honorary Bear Hug captain. Unable to attend the press briefing, he sent a message to the gathering that was read to the assembly. He referred to his mother, whom he lost to breast cancer last summer.
"We can all make a difference if we fight and fight hard, like she did, to raise money to find a cure for cancer," he wrote. "Let's make Ottawa the Bear Hug capital of the world."
More information on Bear Hug III can be found at www.bearhugottawa.com
Courtesy of Canadian Catholic News. Please do not reprint without permission.
March 11/2010
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