Members of Royal Purple of Saskatchewan and the Saskatchewan Brain Injury Association cut the cake at a 10 year celebration of their partnership. (Derek Craddock/paNOW Staff)

By Derek Craddock

BRAINLOVE

‘Just the beginning’: Royal Purple celebrates 10 years of BrainLove

Mar 2, 2024 | 8:00 AM

Inside a room at a Prince Albert hotel, sat dozens of people, dressed in purple to celebrate an occasion 10 years in the making.

Different chapters of the Saskatchewan Royal Purple Association came together to not only start Brain Injury Awareness and Prevention Month but to recognize 10 years of partnering with the Saskatchewan Brain Injury Association (SBIA) for the BrainLove campaign.

The initiative raises funds for SBIA to allow them to offer their services across the province.

“It’s huge to our members, to the people who live with brain injury, but it’s also really huge to the broader cause,” said Executive Director of SBIA Glenda James.

James remembered the early days of the BrainLove campaign and the passion that Royal Purple members had to help prevent brain injuries while supporting those recovering.

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Since BrainLove began, different Royal Purple clubs in Saskatchewan have come together to raise awareness and funds to accumulate $200,000 after 10 years.

During a ceremony on Friday in the Waskesiu Room at the Days Inn in Prince Albert, several clubs from communities like Shellbrook, Prince Albert, and Choiceland came to make their pledges for the year, which totalled over $19,000, pushing them past their $200,000 goal.

Compare that to the first year of BrainLove which raised $1,250.

(Derek Craddock/paNOW Staff)

“It looked like an almost impossible task,” Sandi Lougheed Charity Partnership Committee Chair for the Saskatchewan Royal Purple. “It’s not the end, it’s just the beginning of the next $100,000.”

BrainLove is not the only annual campaign the Royal Purple Association undertakes as they also mark the third Tuesday of October as Purple Thursday, to raise awareness on domestic violence and interpersonal violence.

“One in eight women who have concussions due to interpersonal violence, that’s the same ratio as breast cancer,” said Lougheed. “So, with the amount of awareness that’s around Canada regarding breast cancer, we need to start to equal that. When we look at brain injuries and say we need to prevent them, we need to make people aware of the brain injuries and we need to prevent them.”

With all the support they have received from Royal Purple, James is hopeful that they can change the statistics which show that a Canadian suffers a brain injury every three and a half minutes.

“The numbers that die from brain injuries are absolutely shocking,” she said. “The folks who survive have a will to live and endurance. That’s just admirable.”

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derek.craddock@pattisonmedia.com