TO RAISE funds for children with cancer, 61 taxi drivers said goodbye to their hair yesterday.
This is the second year that the CabbyCare Charity Group, made up of some 150 ComfortDelGro cabbies, is supporting the annual Hair for Hope event under the Children's Cancer Foundation (CCF).
The cabbies are also making a $20,000 donation to the foundation out of their own pockets. This will be matched by ComfortDelGro - bringing the total donation to $40,000.
CabbyCare chairman Ang Kim Thye said: "Although we are cabbies, we are also parents and we want to show our support for children with cancer and their families."
CabbyCare was formed in February 2008 by eight CityCab cabbies who wanted to help the less fortunate. It engages in many charity initiatives, including one that provides free meal deliveries to about 65 homes for Touch Home Care's Meals-on-Wheels programme.
Yesterday, many cabbies cheered and applauded their colleagues as they sat on stage to be shaved. Shouts of "huat ah!" filled the air as hair fell to the ground at the CityCab building at Sin Ming Avenue.
Cabby Sim Soon Teck, 59, said: "Now I don't need to comb my hair and can even save on shampoo. It's very convenient."
Another cabby who shaved his head, Mr Kanapathy Shunmugam, 63, said he wanted to support the foundation as his own family has had experiences with cancer.
"I feel great, and happy that I've done something good," he said.
Ms Neo Lay Tin, executive director of CCF, said: "We are heartened to receive support from the cabbies who have taken time off the roads to... tell these children that it is okay to be bald and that they are not alone in their battle against cancer."
