About Shinerama

Shinerama is a tradition at Laurier that brings out school spirit and pride among students new and old. In 1961, a student wanted first years to get to know each other, have fun and raise money for a good cause, so they took to the street of Waterloo and shined shoes for donations. This became a tradition during Orientation Week and a great way for students to unite as one team. Three years later in 1964, the Canadian Cystic Fibrosis Foundation saw this and adapted Shinerama as one of their national fundraisers to fight CF. In the early 1960’s the average age of survival for children that had CF was 4 years of age. Today the average age of survival is 37 years of age. With over 60 universities and colleges participating in Shinerama, finding a cure is getting better with every penny.         

In 2005, Laurier was honoured with Best Overall Campaign. We’ve raised the most amount of money across Canada in the last four years and an accumulative amount of $1.2 million over 26 years. Now that’s something to be proud of! So how do we raise all of this money? Our biggest fundraiser is Shine Day, which takes place this year on Saturday September 6, 2008. First year students go to local businesses to shine shoes, cars, windows and even bald heads! Their creativity is the key to collecting donations from the Waterloo-Kitchener community. Money is also raised through raffles, BBQs, a Golf Tournament, Bottle Drives and our famous game of "Bling Bling".

The passion and enthusiasm that Laurier students show towards Shinerama is the reason we do Shinerama like no one else. These students have impacted the lives of people with CF in a very unimaginable way. Every dollar raised increases the life expectancy and quality of life for people with CF. The money that we raise with Shinerama helps research to find a cure for CF. We believe that during our lifetime there can be a cure, and until then Laurier will keep fighting.

To everyone that helps out from shining on Shine Day, to donating money for Bling Bling, to volunteering their time to promote awareness, you have all made a difference. Thank you so much for all of your support, our campaign would not run without your help!