Paper bras and pumping iron

Carrie Bellefountaine can’t wait to slip into her Team Sobeys t-shirt and hit the exercise floor on March 26th. And while most other attendees at Bust a Move 2011 are eager to see how they’ll feel getting through six hours of exercise at the event, Carrie is curious to see how she’ll feel the day after Bust a Move. A returning participant from 2010, Carrie has joined a gym since the last Bust a Move and lost over 34 pounds getting into shape. “The day after Bust a Move last year was a painful one,” Carrie admits with a laugh. “I hurt everywhere, and I said to myself - it’s time to get into shape.” The reward for her commitment to getting in shape has been a promise to herself to buy a new pair of shoes for every ten pounds lost, so Carrie is going into this year’s Bust a Move with three new pairs of shoes and the expectation that her new conditioning will make the day after Bust a Move a little less painful.

Carrie's handmade paper 'bras'.

Breast cancer touched Carrie’s life when her step-mother was struck twice with it. Inspired by her step-mother’s courage in the face of the disease, Carrie joined Team Sobeys and developed her own unique fundraising tool – handmade paper ‘bras’ that customers can purchase at the Tantallon Sobeys where she works. The paper bras were snapped up by customers last year at $2 apiece, and Carrie plans to repeat the successful fundraiser this year. “It’s a lot of work with a pair of scissors,” she says, “but it’s worth it.” The scissors will come in handy, too, when Carrie and her 9-year-old daughter, Lauren, plan to snip their hair and donate it for ‘Locks of Love’ cancer wigs. “I’m trying to show my daughter that if we each give a little something towards a cause, together we can all make a difference.”