A fellow firefighter at my house is getting ready to shave his head bald. If you knew what kind of ridiculous mullet he’s been working on since last year, you’d laugh pretty damn hard.
THEN: This is him in September 2010, when he decided to start his “no-haircut” phase for St. Baldrick’s.
NOW: This time has not been good to him, as he has unfortunately transformed into a pre-pubescent pop star.
Setting his sights on a donation goal of $1,500 to St. Baldricks (an organization that raises money for children’s cancer research), he’s almost there! At the time of this writing, he is just $120 shy of his goal. If anyone is feeling generous at the moment, or even just curious about the organization as a whole, Rocky’s participant page is here. You have until March 6th, when he and many, many others will buzz it all off and complete their fundraising.
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In 1999, three New York City insurance executives decided to turn their St. Patrick’s day celebrations into a statement of solidarity for children currently being treated with chemotherapy. After shaving their heads and convincing a few others to join them in their off-the-cuff fundraiser, they coined their name as a portmanteau of “bald” and “Patrick.” One year later, they founded the official organization. Since then, the California-based charity has raised over $90 million in research dollars. Press packages are quite proud of the statement that the foundation has “shaved over 144,900 heads… in 50 U.S. states and twenty-eight countries.”
As it stands now, it’s only mid-February and the Foundation boasts the following impressive statistics for 2011:
- 708 events
- 16,706 shaved heads
- $3.6 million raised for charity
Looking into it, I’ve found that there’s a handful of celebrities who enjoy supporting St. Baldrick’s—most notably, Jay Leno attends a fundraiser in Hollywood that is jointly hosted every year by the Los Angeles Fire and Police Departments.
More information is available at the official website; if anyone’s looking for a good fundraiser, it might be something to keep in mind for the future. Get some coworkers together, tell them that nobody’s allowed to get a haircut until the day of the shaving, and watch the hilarious hair hijinks ensue!
Again, Rocky’s page is here. He’s so close, let’s get his donations all the way there before the big day!
