Audrey Wood, an inspiring 9-year-old from NSW, has just completed her incredible ten-month-long fundraising journey and braved the shave in front of her entire school!
Audrey's fundraising journey began all the way back In May 2021, when she pledged to raise funds for Aussies facing blood cancer and set herself a massive fundraising goal of $10,000! She set her shave date to take place during shave week 2022, and got straight to work! Audrey — with the help of her Mum and campaign manager and proud big sister Maisie — came up with a bunch of fun and exciting ways to fundraise.
Audrey and her big sister and unofficial campaign manager Maisie
"I wanted to start fundraising as soon as possible, so I could raise as much money as possible. We kicked it off with a small garage sale, and our community was very generous by helping us raise $263 on our first day of fundraising!"
Audrey then got busy sewing, selling and recycling to help raise more funds for Aussies facing blood cancer
Audrey then moved on to other creative ways to raise funds including collecting and recycling cans and bottles, and making and selling scrunchies — and donated every cent she made from them to her fundraising tally. She then launched a fundraising campaign for her birthday in July where she asked her community for a simple $2 donation, which boosted her tally even more!
"My fundraising tally grew by more than $1,400 thanks to all of my birthday donations. I was the happiest 9-year-old EVER!"
Audrey busy making scrunchies with help from her friend Lucy
Audrey's Dad's Pepsi Max addiction also helped her fundraising efforts by giving her a lot more cans to recycle!
"Returning cans and bottles for 10c each has really helped my fundraising. By the time I shave my hair I expect the tally from just cans and bottles to exceed $1,000! Thank you to the friends in my community who continue to drop off their cans or message us to collect, and thanks dad for your️ Pepsi addiction. That also helped a lot!"
Audrey in a sea of Pepsi cans ready to be recycled
After 10 months of fundraising, it was finally time to brave the shave!
In the midst of shave week on Thursday the 17th of March 2022, Audrey's big day finally arrived! She was cheered and sheered in front of her entire primary school, and it was a day that she — and the rest of her family — will never forget as it capped off her amazing 10 months of fundraising.
"What a year fundraising and promoting World's Greatest Shave. I wonder how many kids at my school will sign up next year to help rid the world of blood cancer — hopefully lots. I absolutely love my new buzzcut!"
We cannot thank this incredibly brave, hard-working and inspirational 9-year-old enough, and words cannot describe just how much she means to us — as well as to our entire blood cancer community! We hope that her bravery is a source of inspiration for more young students to step forward and brave the shave in support of Aussies facing blood cancer.
