Border residents have given nearly $200,000 to a national hair cutting fundraiser in 2018, increasing last year’s contribution by more than 60 per cent.
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Figures supplied by the Leukaemia Foundation showed 294 registered World’s Greatest Shave participants in Albury and Wodonga raised $199,991.80 during this year’s campaign.
This compares favourably with the 2017 results, where $122,069.11 was collected by 257 registrations.
In 2016, 185 people took part on the Border for a total of $121,771.06.
World’s Greatest Shave, which celebrated its 20th anniversary this year, encourages people to cut their hair in support of those living with blood cancer.
Albury has doubled its number of participants in three years, from 80 to 160, while Wodonga events have raised more than half of each year’s totals.
The statistics include more than $44,000 still being collected from Friday’s shave at Trinity Anglican College, organised in support of year 5 student Hunter McBurnie.
Other Border primary and secondary schools as well as individuals also held shave events in March.
Leukaemia Foundation chief executive Bill Petch said more than 270,000 Australians had been diagnosed with a blood cancer since World’s Greatest Shave began.
“In 1998, children diagnosed with leukaemia would have around a 65 per cent chance of survival,” he said.
“Today, improvements in treatment and care mean nearly 90 per cent will survive the disease.”
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