It’s not often that a girl gets to dye her brother’s hair pink with a yellow ribbon etched into it, but Nick Ascher was not only willing, but eager to get it done.
“They didn’t have to convince me,” he said after his sister Kate, a hairdresser working at Kimberly’s, was finished placing a cancer-fighting yellow ribbon into his carefully shaved and dyed pink hair.
“It was easy,” he added of his decision to wear the unusual hairdo.
Their mom, Sally Ascher, said the family learned through Avon the cosmetics company wants to fight breast cancer. The company started a photo contest on its website. People are asked to post photographs there and others can then vote for them. For each vote for a photo, Avon will donate $2 – up to $500,000 – to help fight breast cancer.
“It was a good cause,” said Sally Ascher, who also sported pink in her hair, as did her family. She said there is an aunt in their family that has fought the disease three different times in her life and is still alive. She also has a friend fighting the disease.
Nick’s wife, Jessica, said donations can also be made at Kimberly McKeown’s salon and spa, Kimberly’s, at the north end of Fergus on St. David Street North. The salon donated space and materials for the hair dying on Saturday afternoon, and is also collecting cash donations for breast cancer.
The nice part of the promotion by Avon, Jessica said, is each person can vote once a day per email address for up to two photos, and the competition runs until Sept. 30, meaning at $4 per day regular voters can cause Avon to pay serious money for the cause.
“If everybody votes every day, they can donate $70 or $80,” Sally Ascher estimated, before learning people can vote for up to two photos every day.
The Aschers also noted there are prizes for the photos with the most votes, but that is not their particular goal with this fundraiser.
People wanting to support the Aschers in their bid to raise funds can visit www.paintitpinkcanada.com. Each participant in the contest must make, create or do something in pink. and must take a digital photo of an event or creation and upload the image to www.paintitpinkcanada.com or www.mettezydurose.ca until the contest closure date.
For each acceptable image uploaded (the company checks them first), the participant will be eligible to accumulate votes. People are encouraged to vote early and vote often for an image.
The grand prize for the winning photos will be an all-inclusive vacation at the Paradisus Palma Real Resort in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, worth an estimated $8,000.
The secondary prize is a $300 Avon gift pack, and there are ten of those awarded. The third prize is 100
A participant may enter more than one image; however, each participant shall be eligible to win either the grand prize or a secondary prize.
The funds will be distributed to breast cancer organizations across Canada as decided by the Avon Foundation for Women. Avon reserves the final decision regarding the distribution of the funds.
There are two photos of the Aschers eligible. The first is number 08151613500120, and is of Nick’s head, with the ribbon visible.
The second picture is of Nick, his wife, Jessica, and sister Kate. They are all wearing pink, and all have their hair dyed pink. With Nick’s striking tattooed arms, the photo is an arresting one. It can be found at number 08151610574597.
The dye work started on Saturday, and the photos were placed on the web site on Sunday. By Monday afternoon, there were over 20 votes for each photo, which has already raised $80 for the cause.
Jessica added that the family plans to feature the contest on Facebook and MSN, and seek votes that way, too, to highlight the contest.
“You’ll have a lot of votes coming in,” she told Nick.
