This Thursday, Binghamton University students and local community members will be shaving their heads to support kids with cancer.
Partnering with Dapper Rascal Studio, a barber lounge located on 60 Court St. that opened in July, Binghamton University Athletics will host their eighth annual St. Baldrick’s Foundation fundraiser and head-shaving event. The event, which will take place from noon to 2 p.m. in Old Union Hall, aims to raise money to fund childhood cancer research in the region and across the nation.
Eva Duarte, ‘15, owner and co-founder of Dapper Rascal, said she’d known about the St. Baldrick’s event prior to opening her barber lounge.
“I knew about the St. Baldrick’s event since my days as a student at BU, so I knew it would be an event our studio would love to participate in, and maybe we put that energy in the universe, because I received an email a few weeks ago asking us if we would be a part of it,” Duarte said. “Of course, I jumped right in without hesitation, volunteering four of us to lend our services to the charity event. We look forward to working with organizations that directly benefit the Binghamton community and that encourage social change and uplift self-esteem.”
Duarte also said her experience of losing someone close to cervical cancer impacted her decision to volunteer.
“People need to know how to sense if something is going wrong in their body and how to go about getting the help they need,” Duarte said. “But for a child, I can’t even imagine what they endure once diagnosed. We just want to help in any way possible. They need to see that they are beautiful no matter what happens — hair or no hair, let that inner light shine.”
According to the St. Baldrick’s Foundation website, a child is diagnosed with some form of cancer every two minutes worldwide. The organization, founded in 1999, raises money online through its website, where individuals or teams can register to shave their heads in advance of shaving events and solicit donations from friends, families and community members. Since 2012, BU has raised more than $90,000 and aims to raise $7,500 this year.
Linda Reynolds, assistant athletic director for student-athlete development and co-organizer of St. Baldrick’s at BU, said some of the funds raised from the event will go toward research at the Upstate Cancer Center in Syracuse, New York.
“Every person has been impacted by cancer in some way,” Reynolds said. “Childhood cancer is particularly devastating, and no one should have to experience it. For our University to have even a small impact on an organization that is committed to finding a cure is important.”
Brandon Bologna, a senior majoring in nursing, wrote in an email that he decided to get involved in St. Baldrick’s because of a tradition in his fraternity, Alpha Phi Omega, which maintains that someone in the organization becomes a shavee each year. According to Bologna, he also has family members who have been affected by cancer.
“In the past, my grandfather, who I was very close to, even with the little hair he had left, participated in this, and I’ve never seen him more proud of himself,” Bologna wrote. “He passed away this past holiday break and I wanted to do this in his honor. This organization is important to me because as I was fundraising, I was doing research on the amazing things they do, and it is clear they care about the people they help, and I was glad to be a part of that.”
Sean Putnam, a junior majoring in nursing, said he felt he owed it to those battling cancer to fundraise and contribute in some way to finding a cure.
“I had heard about St. Baldrick’s before, and had a bunch of hair I was looking to chop off, so it made sense to me to start a fundraising page,” Putnam said. “I think a lot of us are fortunate to have control of our own destiny, but cancer is something that can really throw life off track. Especially for children at such a young age, they have no choice but to be brave and fight this terrible disease that they had absolutely nothing to do with getting diagnosed.”