A crowd gathered earlier this week in the gymnasium at Immanuel Lutheran Church erupted into cheers.

It was not because the Warriors scored a last-second shot to seal a victory but because a member of the faculty was sporting a new hair color.

Charlie Smith, the school’s junior high social studies teacher, lost a bet with every student in the school when he challenged them to raise $1,000 in a two-week period for the school’s Relay for Life team, Immanuel Cancer Fighters.

While the students came up short by raising $650 in the allotted time, they did boost their total to more than $1,500 for the school year.

Smith felt they were close enough and invited former student Lindsey Eble to dye his hair bright pink in front of the whole school.

“This started in October (Breast Cancer Awareness Month), so that’s where the pink came from, but with cancer, a lot of people lose their hair, so doing something with my hair was an obvious thing,” Smith said.

The effort is one that is personal for Smith, who lost his father, Michael, to oral cancer in 1999.

“Some students had asked in the past about dyeing my hair, and I wasn’t sure, but this year, I decided to challenge them,” he said.

The students also heard from cancer survivors, Mary Anne Jordan and American Cancer Society volunteer and survivor Jan Engel, as part of the program.

Jordan is a two-time survivor of breast cancer — once in 2013 and again in 2016. She worked through her treatments and even taught a business course to eighth-graders during that time.

Jordan told the students cancer taught her a lot about life and gave her some insight on God’s plan.

“When we hear the word cancer, we think, ‘Why me?’ but then ‘Why not me?'” she said. “God has a plan, and he taught me to lean on people, meet new people and learn and spread awareness. It made me realize how important life is and how every day is a gift.”

The most impressive part of the effort was that the school did not do a particular fundraiser like it has in the past. Most of it was simple donations from the 326 students.

“It really was just word-of-mouth where they would bring in a couple dollars here and a couple dollars there,” Smith said.

He said students sold cotton candy some mornings to go toward the effort, and they also hung homemade posters throughout the school to promote their fundraising efforts.

The school always is finding creative ways to raise money for Relay for Life, a team fundraising event organized by the American Cancer Society each year. Team members raise money throughout the year in anticipation of the main event in May where all of the teams in the community gather to celebrate the amount raised.

Relay for Life also features a night where all the teams walk on a track — usually at Seymour High School — to signify that cancer never sleeps and patients are always fighting.

Some of the ways the school’s team has raised money in the past are selling pieces of duct tape for $1 to tape the school’s principal to the wall and other teachers making similar bets as Smith, only shaving their heads.

He also agreed to dye his hair pink again if students can raise the additional $400 they came up short on by Christmas break, which would give him pink hair for Christmas into January. Students got a head start that afternoon as Jordan contributed $100.

Smith has led the fundraising efforts the last several years. Last year, the school raised $4,600 to bring the overall total to $11,132, Smith said. This year’s goal is $4,500.

“Each year, it has always been between $2,000 and $4,000,” he said.

The first couple of years Smith organized the school’s team, he was surprised by the amounts the students were able to raise but then realized how devoted his students when they are passionate about a cause.

“We have a really dedicated amount of students here,” he said.

Smith said raising the money for Relay for Life is a positive lesson to his students and a great way for them to serve their community.

“It’s a great way for the kids to give back to the community,” he said. “It shows the Christian love for each other, and we may not know everyone who has cancer, but we can give back to the community and be a good witness.”

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To donate online to Immanuel Cancer Fighters, visit main.acsevents.org/site/TR?team_id=2240533&fr_id=86995&pg=team.

To donate by check, drop off donations at Immanuel Lutheran School, 520 S. Chestnut St., Seymour. Make checks payable to the American Cancer Society.

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