Rockville Centre Gets Ready To Rock The Shave

After watching The Parade That Cares and Shares, come to The Party That Shaves and Saves.

The 16th annual Rockville Centre St. Baldrick’s head-shaving event to raise awareness and funds for childhood cancer research is set to take place after the St. Patrick's Parade on Saturday, March 24. People of all ages are signing up to shave their heads and chop their ponytails at The St. Agnes Parish Center, located at 29 Quealy Place, from noon to 5 p.m.

The event raises awareness and money for the St. Baldrick’s Foundation, which provides funding for life-saving research to find cures and improve treatments of all childhood cancers locally and throughout the world. St Baldrick’s grants enable local hospitals — including Winthrop University Hospital, Cohen Children’s Medical Center, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Columbia University Medical Center, Mt. Sinai, Weill Cornell, NYU Langone, and Stony Brook Children’s Hospital and hundreds of other treatment centers around the world — to provide the most promising research, clinical trials and treatment.

The St. Baldrick’s Foundation, a non-profit, 501(c)(3) charity, was cofounded 19 years ago by Rockville Centre resident John Bender and two of his friends, and continues to grow worldwide. It is now the leading funder of childhood cancer research, second only to the U.S. government. But the government allocates only 4 percent of cancer research funding to solely pediatric cancer research, so St. Baldrick’s was created to fill this gap.

"Until cures for all childhood cancers are found and long-term side effects of treatments are nonexistent, St. Baldrick’s volunteers will keep shaving in solidarity, increasing awareness and raising funds for childhood cancer research," Bender said. "RVC St. Baldricks’s welcomes anyone to sign up to shave and fundraise, and all to come and support the shavees as they brave the shave on Saturday, March 24!"

The Rockville Centre St. Baldrick’s event combines inspiring speakers, head-shaving, ponytail-chop donations, live music from great local band Jim McGrath and The Palace Trio, complimentary food, a cash bar, kids’ activities, bake sale, raffles and more to make it an inspiring, community event that helps save young lives.

Every year, the event honors local children who have battled or are currently battling cancer. The event bake sale every year specifically benefits a local family affected by pediatric cancer.

Licensed professionals, and long-time volunteers, from the salons of The Underground, Pioneer Barber, Di Rosa Hair Salon and LI BOCES students will again be shaving heads by the dozens. Local dignitaries and special guests often pop into the event to show their support. Parade bagpipers often treat the crowd to a festive tune.

Local supporters George Martin Restaurants, Front Street Pizzeria, Parmigianni, NY Ravioli, Gino’s Pizzeria, Busco’s Deli, Associated Supermarket, Greek Town, Lenox and Park, Mother Kelly’s, River Mill and Coach Realtors will be donating the food and beverages for the event. Volunteers from the St Agnes Father’s Club, students from the South Side High School St. Baldrick’s Club, South Side Middle School and St Agnes Cathedral School and many parents and teachers will again be volunteering to make this event possible.

Last year’s event drew more than 240 shavees and ponytail choppers and hundreds more attendees and raised more than $403,000. Event organizers Alanna Bender, John LaCava and Dan Schaefer are hoping to reach those numbers again this year. As of now, more than $207,000 has been raised for this year’s event. Over 130 shavees are signed up for the event so far, including five women going fully bald and many girls chopping their ponytails. And numbers are increasing daily. Ponytail choppers do double duty to supply hair for wigs to Hair We Share for medical-hair loss patients while fundraising for St. Baldrick’s.

Many shavees this year are multiple-time shavees, with some signing up for their 6th on up to their 19th shave in a row. Father James Hansen of St. Agnes Cathedral will again be shaving his head and has raised well over $11,000. State Assemblyman Brian Curran typically shows up every year to support the cause and have his head shaved. Even non-shavees and volunteers can fundraise, as Kevin Maloney has demonstrated by raising more than $100,000 for the event over the past two years by running races in memory of his wife, Lisa, who passed away from cancer in May 2016.

Preregistration is strongly encouraged for those shaving or chopping their ponytail. Preregistering sets up each shavee/ponytail-chopper with a fundraising page on the St. Baldrick’s website, making it an easy and effective way to gather pledges. To pledge a shavee, donate or to learn more about St. Baldrick’s, click here.

For any questions about the Rockville Centre event, email benderalanna@gmail.com.

Photo: Courtesy Bellmore-Merrick Central High School District