At our monthly team meetings, one of our crew members discusses some of our five values: strength, courage, commitment, heart, and spark. This is Brittany’s reflection from this month’s meeting.
Brittany (second from left) and her best bud, Razor, with her family at the 2017 Climb.
For those of you who don’t know me, I am not normally the type of person who drops the ball on deadlines, nor am I ever the type of person who procrastinates. However, it is currently 8:03 p.m. and I am just sitting down and wondering what to write for my “YACC Values” presentation tomorrow. To be totally honest, I didn’t even know it was my turn to write this month’s value for our team meeting until Dawn reminded me a couple of days ago.
So, here I am, scrolling through Facebook with only 12 hours left to finish this value, and I saw a post from a YACCer. I am not in the program side of YACC, so I see very few YACCers on Facebook. The probability of me seeing this post — a picture of an anonymous letter from one YACCer to another — must mean it is a sign. It was just a surprise goodwill gesture from one member of the YACC community to another. An act of kindness. And now my heart is melting — HOW FREAKING SWEET!
So, thank you, YACCer. Because of you, my value this month is all about connectedness. It always has, and always will, amaze me how much YACC and the Shave can really bring people together. Individuals go from being total strangers to sharing such a tight bond in no time. And I LOVE IT.
If you haven’t witnessed a true connection before, you need to see the bond between two or more people in the Young Adult Cancer Canada network. It is truly amazing! The people at YACC events are often meeting for the first time when they go to a YACC event, but from the way they act, you would think they had been friends for life. They connect in a way that most people don’t understand. They are there to cheer each other on when they get a good test result or support them during a 2 a.m. panic attack. When you join YACC by going to a program or signing up for the online Facebook page, you enter a community — a community that laughs and cries together, a community that always has your back.
Which brings me to Shave for the Brave. The only way to get an official yellow Shave for the Brave toque is to shave your head or donate 10 inches of hair. As the self-pronounced Shave Queen, let me tell you, people — both young and old — go crazy for these toques. It’s not because they keep your head warm or because people just love wearing a fluorescent yellow hat, it is because once they get a toque, they are now a part of something bigger than themselves. They are a part of a community of people who put the needs of others above their own vanity. They are a part of a group of people who give each other a wave or a nod when they see someone else wearing the toque at the same time.
Connections don’t just happen between YACCers and Shavers, and these connections could arguably start from the tight bond between the YACC team. We (YACC’s staff) not only spend Monday to Friday with each other like most co-workers, we never miss the chance to eat lunch together, we spend weeks a year travelling together to run our programs, we spend nights and weekends attending a variety of Shave and YACC fundraising events, and we aren’t sick of each other yet! We even like to spend time with each other in our spare time, whether we’re attending a concert, going to dinner, or even going on vacations together.
THANK YOU to all of the YACCers, Shavers, and to my amazing YACC colleagues for all of the amazing connections I have gained over the past few years. It is through this foundation and this bond that you have made YACC work as well as it does!
And if you don’t believe me yet, just ask Karine about a YACCer. She will probably be able to tell you each event they have attended.
