When the dedicated scrapbookers gather at the Paper and Ink Boutique in southeast Calgary, it’s not always just to share tips and preserve memories – they also use the sessions to raise money to fight cancer.
It happens at regular scrapbooking gatherings called “crops.”
“Because we crop our paper down to put in our scrapbooks,” store owner Julia Chupik said.
Each month, Chupik organizes a cancer-related event called Crop for a Cause.
The sessions raise money to fight blood cancers, with proceeds going to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of Canada.
“I chose that one because I’m a cancer survivor,” Chupik said. “I was diagnosed seven years ago this month with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.”
Fighting it involved several months of treatment.
“Five rounds of chemo,” Chupik said. “And then 20 rounds of radiation.”
Through it all, she found solace in scrapbooking.
“Writing down all these thoughts and emotions,” Chupik said. “Because there was a lot of anxiety.”
Cancer has also been part of the lives of many of the people who attend Chupik’s Crop for a Cause events.
“I just had my dad pass away a year ago with lung cancer,” Kim Sirr said. “And I will be here any time I can.”
The scrapbookers are hoping their monthly sessions throughout 2019 will help raise about $2,000 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.
All members of the group are encouraged that their contributions can help make a difference for people fighting the disease.
“I’ve been cancer-free for five years,” Chupik said.
She’s grateful for the steady support from her scrapbookers.
“I’m so proud that everyone feels so passionately about it.”
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