Reddy for a Cure

As an agency that involves itself pretty heavily in its community, we get the opportunity to meet a lot of really amazing people and learn truly incredible stories. One of those people, one of those stories, is that of Eva Markvoort, a local woman who lost her lifelong battle with cystic fibrosis this past March. We were fortunate enough to have met Eva at the premeire of her documentary, 65 Red Roses. Eva was an inspiration. Even during her final days, she was still blogging on her site and sharing her pain and struggles with the world. Yet, through the pain, she was determined to set up a legacy that she could leave behind to ensure the efforts to find a cure were successful. As she put it, ‘One day, I want CF to stand for “cure found”.

Just weeks before Eva lost her battle, the Canadian Cystic Fibrosis Foundation (CCFF) approached us to help with Eva’s legacy through a fundraising event in her name. We teamed up with the CCFF and Suki’s Hair Salon and "Reddy for a Cure” was on! Eva was famous for her fiery red hair, which she dyed after her double lung transplant. Always avid supporters of CF and, through president Ken Takagi, Suki’s came on board, offering to dye up to 200 people’s hair Eva’s signature, vibrant red.

We would spread Eva’s message through a guierilla poster campaign and through Social media. Within days, the response was overwhelming. The Facebook page allowed us to reach far beyond our local community and before we knew it, pictures of newly dyed redheads were being posted from all over the world. Eva’s message was being heard loud and clear. Success.

That March during the national CF Great Strides walk, Eva’s ‘red army’ gathered in Calgary, Vancouver and in Toronto in her honour to march together and raised an unprecedented amount for CF research.