There are 21 freshly-shaven heads bobbing around the campus of Shippensburg University in honor of childhood cancer patients.
The civic engagement committee of Housing and Residence Life organized a head-shaving event on April 19 to raise money for the St. Baldrick’s Foundation. The charity works to fund cancer research and support patients. According to St. Baldrick’s, a child is diagnosed with cancer every 3 minutes and one in five will not survive the disease.
Twenty students and one faculty member faced the clippers in the Ceddia Union Building amphitheater Tuesday afternoon, raising $2,546 for St. Baldrick’s. Pre-registered shavees received donations online, while some decided to make a donation on the spot and try out a shaved hairstyle.
“It matters what I do for other people,” junior Samantha Justice said. “I don’t have a lot of money, but I have a lot of hair.” Justice shaved her head and managed to collect $160 in donations. The most raised by a single shavee was $453.
The idea for Shave This Ship came from McLean Hall resident Joe Devlin, who approached his residence director, Alex Honsberger, about the idea. The civic engagement committee tries to find opportunities in philanthropy, so raising money for St. Baldrick’s seemed like a great idea, Honsberger said.
In addition to the head-shaving attraction, those in attendance could get their face painted, play cornhole, or enjoy baked goods from Campus Dining Services. Music playing in the amphitheater drew a crowd of students, who then stayed to watch the hair disappear under the hands of Great Clips in Shippensburg hairdressers. More than 200 people came out to the event and raffle prizes were available.
Shave this Ship honored two cancer patients in particular, Austin L. and Owen B., both from Carlisle. Austin, age 8, suffered from acute lymphoblastic leukemia and went off treatment in 2013. At 2-years-old, Owen is receiving treatment for retinoblastoma. He was just diagnosed in October of last year.
Senior Seth Baker shaved his head for the very first time to pay tribute to a friend he lost to childhood cancer. He considered shaving his head before, but never went through with it.
“I’m doing this in her honor,” Baker said. “I didn’t think it would really make a difference before and I regretted not doing this.”
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