Owner of The Little Gym to Shave Head for Charity

Anthony Karpouzis and his wife, Kellie, absolutely love kids. In fact, it was their love for children that drove them to participate in the second annual One Mission Kid's Cancer Buzz-Off, which will be held from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Sunday at Gillette Stadium.

At the event, participants have their heads shaved to "make a bald statement about pediatric cancer," according to One Mission's website.

"My wife and I work with childen," said Anthony Karpouzis, who along with his wife, owns , a local children's gymnastic franchise in Westborough. "We're around kids all the time.

"A couple students of ours have unfortunately gotten sick," said Karpouzis.

Check in for the Buzz-Off starts at 8:30 a.m., with a few presentations taking place shortly afterwards. At 10 a.m., the hair cutting begins.

"It's to go completely bald, it's not like a crew cut or anything like that," said Karpouzis.

There are close to 100 participants this year, according to Karpouzis, all of whom are sponsored to get their head shaved.

"There are people that raised more than others," Karpouzis said. "You can make donations online or you can mail a check."

Karpouzis became involved with One Mission when he was visiting one of his students who was sick. It just so happened that the Buzz-Off was being held the very same day.

"I told my wife about it," Karpouzis said. "There were people shaving their heads, women shaving their heads. It was very neat to see what people were doing."

Prior to this year's Buzz-Off, Karpouzis' wife began talking with Ashley Haseotes, the event's founder, with whom she had a pre-existing relationship.

"Kellie and Ashley started talking about putting stuff up in the gym to raise awareness for the Buzz-Off," said Karpouzis. 

The originial goal of the event was to raise $80,000, but the bar was raised to $100,000. As of Thursday, the Buzz-Off had raised between $110,000 and $112,000.

"They definitely broke that goal," Karpouzis said. "I'm kind of speechless to see how much people can (support) in an economy like this. To donate and raise over $100,000 in a few months is amazing."

In the end, Karpouzis is just thankful that he can lend a helping hand.

"I'm just thankful that we're all healthy enough and have enough support to be able to do something like this," he said. "I'm just excited to be able to help any way I possibly can and have our customers and our friends help as well."

To make a donation, visit One Mission's website and click 'Donate Online' in the top right corner.

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