The Windsor Cancer Centre Foundation's Grow On Windsor campaign has raised $375,000, for a total of $3,154,815 since its inception in 2014.
The campaign encourages people, teams, and workplaces to grow facial hair and take part in creative fundraising to support local cancer care.
This year's campaign, which ran from Oct. 2025 to mid-January, raised funds to support local radiation treatments, including Windsor’s fourth linear accelerator, as older machines are replaced.
Board director Steve Roberts said Grow On Windsor has evolved over the years, expanding beyond a focus of men’s cancer programs.
"Now we basically want the funds to go where ever it's most needed. So we rely on the Windsor cancer program to tell us where the strongest needs are and we then fund that when we can," he said.
"All the money that is raised stays here in Windsor and Essex County."
The Rosati Group was the campaign’s top fundraiser, collecting more than $55,000 during a year that also marked the company’s 55th anniversary.
Roberts said the cause is extremely personal to him having survived prostate cancer in 2007.
"I got involved originally with the Windsor Cancer Centre Foundation to assist in raising funds so that we then had a DaVinci machine here in Windsor. And have now actually been successful in not only having the DaVinci machine and raising the funds to bring a DaVinci machine here in Windsor, but we've now also been able to raise the funds a couple years ago to fund its replacement," Roberts said.
He said the campaign continues to help patients access enhanced care and vital resources at the Windsor Regional Cancer Centre.
"What we did with the DaVinci machine we've done with other cancer treatments that weren't available to men and women in Windsor where we've raised the funds to be able to purchase the equipment, or to fund the programs so that those in our community have the same level of service as others in other communities in Ontario," he said.
Roberts said the foundation now looks forward to spring's 3rd annual Show Us Your Brave campaign.
The fundraising campaign invites participants to face a personal challenge, such as rappelling the CIBC Building on May 23, 2026 or creating their own event, while raising funds to support cancer care close to home.