A Big Haul for McMaster Children’s Hospital — $336,221 & counting —as Champions for Charity dazzle & ‘change lives’ in The Brawl at Tapestry Hall
By Jeff Hicks
CAMBRIDGE —
Ben, 7, grinned wide in a yellow bow tie.
Hannah, looking so cute and sophisticated in grey bow tie and suit vest, scrunched up her five-year-old face and gripped a Go Daddy sign. Kristine, blue fight night dress to match her husband in blue trunks, reached up and snapped a family selfie.
The bicep bruises were yet to come for Daniel “Peaches” Heden.
But, as the Red Hot Chilli Peppers blared out Can’t Stop for his walkout song, a moment of sweet science serenity enveloped The Brawl at Tapestry Hall on a beautifully blustery night in Galt.
Mandy Bujold’s Champions for Charity — 18 first-time fundraising boxers and community business people raising $336,221 and counting for McMaster Children’s Hospital Foundation — took the ring in a Vegas-style boxing experience.
Glitz and glamour and gloves. Big money and big names.
Olympic broadcaster Andi Petrillo was the emcee. Yvette Roposo, Canada’s first female boxing announcer, bellowed the introductions with pageantry and panache.
It was more than surreal. It was real.
“Truly, it was beyond words,” said the 41-year-old Heden, whose kids have both been helped by the caring staff at McMaster when they were little and vulnerable.
The 424 guests, who sat so politely for dinner, roared Heden’s arrival to the ring.
The 70-plus mezzanine guests hooted and hollered from above like Gallery Gods of a lost era.
The 1,000 livestream viewers stretched from across-the-pond England to down-under Australia.
“The atmosphere in the room was electric,” said Bujold, a two-time Olympian and 11-time national boxing champ. “Many of the guests were experiencing live boxing for the first time, and they were blown away by how thrilling it was!”
What followed was three hours of jabs and showmanship. Fifteen weeks of gruelling boxing training, through SydFit Health Centre under coaches Syd Vanderpool and Kaitlyn Clark, rolled up into three two-minute rounds for each Champion for Charity.
There were knockdowns. There were standing eight-counts. There was the staggering sight of video storyteller Greg “Please Don’t Hurt Me” McBride walking out to the song Barbie Girl wearing a serious smirk and blond wig — to the delight of his daughter Josie, who was treated for a serious eye infection at McMaster when she was little.
“She thought the wig was the best part!” he said.
Jaimi The Firecracker Ferreira, 41, bopping around the red carpet to MC Hammer and Can’t Touch This.
Each bout ended with a hug and smiles.
The Champions for Charity, especially after Bujold presented a big cheque in the ring to McMaster Children’s Hospital Foundation development officer Vanessa Macedo, all felt like winners with new friends and newly-discovered fundraising wallop.
“Not all of us won our fights, but what we shared and accomplished over these last 15 weeks is worth more than anything,” said Alex Kinsella, a 47-year-old writer/marketer of his six glorious, fist-eating minutes as the Midtown Marauder.
“We’ve built friendships that will go on beyond this—and who knows, maybe you’ll see one of us in the ring again.”
Indeed, 11 people who witnessed The Brawl at Tapestry Hall immediately signed up to try out for next year’s third Champions for Charity event under the Bujold Banner.
The first Champions for Charity event raised $168,000 for McMaster.
That amount has just been doubled.
“It will change lives,” said 58-year-old Jeff MacIntyre, whose own family has been helped by McMaster, after his Champions for Charity bout as El Jefe.
Macedo and the hospital foundation were appreciative of the champs and their extraordinary efforts to help McMaster Children’s Hospital.
“To all of the champions who have put their heart and soul into their training and commitment over the past several months, we thank you for stepping out of your comfort zone and into the ring for making a difference in paediatric health,” Macedo said on social media.
“A huge round of applause to all for making this event so successful!”
The Brawl also collected $9226 for KidsAbility and $13,545 for Scotland’s Yard through live and silent auctions and 50/50.
Heden only foresees one challenge for the next edition of Champions for Charity.
“Everyone would do it again, I think,” Heden said. “We’re going to need an even bigger venue!”
www.champsforcharity.ca
