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August 18, 2011

Shinerama at Mount Allison University

I just wanted to make a small mention of a really important cause at Mount Allison: Shinerama. It's an effort that raises money for Cystic Fibrosis Canada, a nonprofit organization that funds scientific research, treatment & patient services, and education and public awareness of Cystic Fibrosis (CF), the most common fatal genetic disease affecting Canadian children and young adults.

Shinerama is the college and University arm of Cystic Fibrosis Canada which last year contributed $1 million to total revenues for the organization.

For a number of years, Mount Allison has been recognized nationally for it's involvement in Shinerama. Currently, Mount Allison teams make up five of the top 10 teams nationally.



Consider Mount Allison's (≈) 2250 undergrads to Dalhousie's (≈) 12,000 and all five teams surpass them. That's really impressive and due to all of the hard work that Beth Whitfield and the rest of the Shinerama team have done already over the summer in fund-raising efforts around the area.

If you want to get involved in helping an organization that improves the quality of life for patients and strives to find a cure for CF you should get involved with this group. For more information contact Shinerama Chair Beth Whitfield at shinerama@mta.ca or in the SAC office in the Student Centre. You can also like the group on Facebook, follow it on Twitter, or visit their website for more information. Here's a video from the group talking about their work:



From Cystic Fibrosis Canada:

Cystic fibrosis causes a build-up of thick mucus
in the lungs leading to severe respiratory
problems. Meanwhile, mucus and protein build-
up in the digestive tract results in extreme
difficulty in digesting and absorbing adequate
nutrients from food.
The effects of cystic fibrosis are most
devastating in the lungs. Ultimately, most CF
deaths are due to lung disease.
It is estimated that one in every 3,600
children born in Canada has cystic fibrosis.
Approximately 3,800 Canadian children,
adolescents, and adults with cystic fibrosis
attend specialized CF clinics.