The New Year brings new hope and a renewed passion and commitment to achieve our vision: a world with zero melanoma and skin cancer related deaths. Everything we do at Melanoma Canada reflects that goal. I’m excited to bring our new Sun Guardians Program to life and to expand our Mole Mobile Tours presented by Neutrogena®, a Kenvue brand. These initiatives are crucial to our mission of preventing melanoma and skin cancers and ensuring their earliest possible detection.
About Our Sun Guardians Program
Thanks to fundraisers like Smash Out Skin Cancer, Rock the Pickle, and Giving Tuesday, which raised funds in 2024, we’re excited to open our grant portal early in the New Year. This portal will allow camps, daycares, youth recreation facilities, sports leagues and more to apply to for tools they need to keep children and youth sun safe.
Building on the success of our award-winning Sun Aware Camp Program – which has provided education and resources to hundreds of camps across the country for over a decade – the Sun Guardians Program takes prevention to the next level. In addition to education, it offers tangible tools like sunscreen, UPF hats, UPF swimsuits, sunglasses, UV color-changing bracelets, stickers, and shaded structures, including shaded picnic tables, sandboxes, 10×10 tents, and larger custom shade solutions.
If we can teach kids to treat sun safety like they treat car safety, we can save lives! We know that the tools to stay sun-safe can be cost-prohibitive for some facilities and parents. This program will ensure all kids, regardless of circumstance, have access to tools that prevent sunburns and reduce their risk for melanoma and skin cancer later in life. Learn more at sunguardians.ca
2025 Mole Mobile Tours, presented by Neutrogena®, a Kenvue brand
Last year, the Mole Mobile tours visited Quebec and British Columbia. While we hoped to provide skin cancer screenings in remote, Indigenous, and underserved communities, the shortage of dermatologists and long wait times prevented us from making this happen. Instead, we shifted our focus to provide vital education on early detection and prevention. Our healthcare providers on board the Mole Mobiles met with patients to offer skin cancer risk assessments using a validated risk assessment tool. They helped visitors understand how to identify early signs of melanoma and skin cancer, and stressed that proper sun safety habits are key to prevention.
We’re thrilled in 2025, we’ll resume skin cancer screenings. We’ve strategized behind the scenes with our Medical Advisory Committee and partners and developed a new format to offer screening services to the Canadian population. We look forward to visiting Ontario and Alberta this year and bringing the service we promised back to Quebec and British Columbia. That’s right – FOUR provinces over a SIX months! Keep an eye out for our 2025 Mole Mobile Tour schedule presented by Neutrogena®, a Kenvue brand. Visit molemobile.ca for more details.
We are grateful to our 2024 Mole Mobile Sponsors and all our corporate partners and supporters for your generosity this year.
My team and I are incredibly proud of the work we accomplished in 2024, and we’re eager to continue supporting the melanoma and skin cancer community in the year ahead.
Wishing you a safe and happy holiday season!
Falyn Katz,
CEO
Melanoma Canada
