A fundraising initiative launched nearly 15 years ago at École Selkirk Junior High is still making an impact today.
Through the BOSS Guitar Works Program, students designed and built guitars that were signed by celebrities, including Slash, Randy Bachman and Bill Clinton, and auctioned off to raise money for charities with the tagline ‘Built By Suns Signed By Stars’.
Last year, one of their guitars, signed by Ariel Walker, co-founder of the the Huntington Society, was auctioned off at the Huntington Society of Canada’s 50th anniversary gala. The gala grossed more than $200,000 in its fundraising efforts, including raising money for a Huntington Society of Canada Research Chair and specialized health care providers across Canada.
“It’s such a touching feeling to know that people are donating their time, their energy, their efforts,” Janice Quirt, communications specialist of the Huntington Society of Canada, said about the students’ guitar program. “It’s like a ripple effect.”
Wayne Davies, the director of student teaching at the University of Winnipeg, was the principal at École Selkirk Junior High when the BOSS Guitar Works Program launched.
School shop teacher Kris Hancock started showing students how to make their own electric guitars. Around this time, the school went through a couple of difficult situations, including violence, and the school responded with various things to boost morale, including getting these guitars made by students signed by celebrities and auctioned off to raise money for charity.
“It was really cool because what we were doing was normalizing philanthropic behaviour amongst kids,” Davies said. “Now, some of those kids are in their later 20s … and we know through connecting with some of them that they still think like that. They’re still community-minded. They’re the type of young people that we want to see grow up into becoming community leaders.”
Davies wrote the book The Guitar Principal: A Novel Intended to Entertain and Provoke, a story inspired by the BOSS Guitar Works Program, an initiative he said was his favourite part of his career.
Quirt said the guitar program speaks to the grassroots movement of the Huntington Society of Canada, which was founded by Ralph and Ariel Walker.
“They started the society from their kitchen table because they saw that there was a need for people to connect, to have access to resources and information,” Quirt said.
“On top of their full-time jobs, they just sat down and tried to bring people together, drove out the campervan with their kids to the East Coast, drove out West the next summer, really to bring people together and to offer that hope and to offer that information.”
She said she sees this same spirit of doing good for others in the people involved in the guitar program.
“It’s an amazing thing to do for people who you probably have never met but who are in need and you can make a difference,” she said. “An effort like this really does have a far-reaching effect.”
May marks Huntington Disease Awareness Month. Huntington’s disease (HD) is a rare, hereditary disease.
“It affects people physically, mentally and emotionally. It’s said to be like having elements of Parkinson’s, ALS, Alzheimer’s and schizophrenia all at the same time,” Quirt said. “There’s no meaningful treatment right now, unfortunately, and there is no cure.”
The Huntington Society of Canada has the aim of improving the quality of life for those affected by the disease. The charity does this through offering support services, providing educational resources, investing in research and increasing awareness.
Record Photos By Brett Mitchell
Guitar program is still giving back
