Ethan Drage was only in grade four when he came up with an idea that soon became a major fundraiser for a Calgary non-profit organization.
The Bare Naked Noggins is a fund raiser for the Epilepsy Association of Calgary.
Ethan came up with the idea because he wanted to do something for a classmate who had epilepsy.
“I went to my mom and asked if we could do a head shave for epilepsy cause there was a girl in my class. So we contacted my principal. We started a head shave at my school and without going door-to-door at all our little school of like 300 kids raised $11000,” said Ethan.
The Epilepsy Association saw the potential in what Ethan was doing.
Kathy Fyfe, Executive Director of the Epilepsy Association of Calgary, says she believes Ethan is a big reason the event is so successful.
“It's continued to inspire a lot of other people for seven years and that's certainly, in my world, been quite unusual. We've done many fundraising activities and a lot of them die out very quickly, two or three years,” said Fyfe.
Fyfe says the awareness it creates is also very important and each year the association presents Ethan with a medal for being a champion for people with epilepsy.
“It doesn't matter how big or small you are, how old you are how young you are, you can change the world and change society and make other people happy and help people,” said Ethan.
For all he's doing to change the world for people with epilepsy, Ethan Drage is our Inspiring Albertan this week.
(With files from Darrel Janz)
