Dan Medakovic has agreed to have his chest waxed to raise over $1,000 in donations for Design Hope.
By Ryan McGreal
Nov. 28, 2005
(This is a sidebar to Designing Hope)
Talk about "give 'til it hurts."
Dan Medakovic, a Design Hope volunteer, has agreed to have his chest hair waxed in exchange for soliciting over $1,000 in donations from his coworkers.
A group of managers in his office had just agreed to shave their heads to raise money for earthquake relief, and Medakovic decided he had to "up the ante" to overcome donor fatigue.
Ancaster's National Institute of Esthetics (Nie Spa) agreed to do the waxing, and Dan went in at 6:00 PM on Friday, November 25.
Take it all off: the cruel, heartless folks at Nie Spa in Ancaster wax Dan Medakovic's chest
Design Hope isn't just a nice charity for Medakovic; his 51 year old brother is homeless. "He lives in a tent in a field somewhere in Brampton. Trying to help him get his life back on track (and failing) has taught me a lot about homelessness. Namely, that it's a complex issue and it can be very different for each individual affected."
He points out that some issues common to homelessness, like access to food and shelter, are easily addressed. He likes Design Hope because of its pragmatism. "We raise money - the money goes directly to feeding the homeless in our own city. [There's] no administrative overhead as everything is run by volunteers."
Medakovic isn't limiting his efforts to volunteering with Design Hope and sharing the pain of homelessness. He's also a singer/songwriter and music producer (see his website here: www.silverreelmusic.com), and plans to donate the proceeds from his next album to HOOTC.
The idea that art can transcend mere entertainment or spectacle inspires him. "It makes the creation of the art that much more meaningful and wraps an element of practicality and deeper meaning around something that could otherwise be taken as entirely esthetic."
I asked Medakovic why he decided to raise the stakes with a painful waxing (that excruciating scene from The Forty-Year-Old Virgin is still burned in my mind).
Medakovic explained, "I'm not at all looking forward to it but I know I wouldn't have raised the $1,000 without putting something on the line. Anyway - it's a small price to pay considering $1,000 will feed about 333 people."
In case you were wondering, Medakovic's chest is "pretty densely haired."
The challenge of delivering good housing is not just a design challenge. It's a planning and public policy challenge as well. Without the support of all of the government levels, it's difficult to see affordable housing solutions realised." -- Chris Harrison, Partner, Vermeulen/Hind Architects
NewsfeedsISSN: 1715-1554
Transit IS Pedestrian-Friendly (Aug. 25, 2008) - I really hope McMaster University will reconsider its decision to move the B-Line express buses off-campus, particularly given that the justification is to make the campus more pedestrian-friendly
Hamilton Lost 20% of Farmland since 1991 (Aug. 25, 2008) -
The Toronto Star has published an interactive map of lost farmland across southern Ontario.
Hamilton alone lost 20 percent of its farms in the 15 years between 1991 and 2006. Click on a high
Fringe Festival Review: I Am Not Neil Young (Aug. 22, 2008) -
What does it mean to live in the shadow of greatness? How can a talent made famous for his ability to impersonate demonstrate or even discover his own true self?
Frank Wilks is not Neil Y
Fringe Festival Review: New Talent (Aug. 22, 2008) -
The emotionally harrowing tale of a young woman driven by circumstance into the escort business, New Talent is simply a tremendous performance.
Interweaving a personal tragedy with a public
Fringe Festival Review: Lear's Shadow (Aug. 22, 2008) - The tragic Lear's Shadow boils Shakespeare's King Lear down to its essence: not the conflict between an insecure father and his treacherous daughters but rather the interplay between a foo
Fringe Festival Review: Because I Can (Aug. 21, 2008) -
Written by Allison McWood and directed by James Henderson, Because I Can is a screwball comedy that parlays a simple premise into a lively hour of very funny entertainment.
Karina Berschteyn
PRINT EDITION
By Ryan | http://www.raisethehammer.org
Posted
I just received word from Dan Medakovic: "the waxing event was great and raised $1,280 in donations plus some additional funds with people paying admission at the actual event." That's incredible news!
(Permalink)