GREEN BAY (NBC26) — Every year on the Sunday before Saint Patrick's Day, Green Bay comes together to get a cut for a cause.
- Volunteers had their heads shaved after raising money for pediatric cancer research
- Saint Brendan's Inn Irish pub in Green Bay has been raising money for the St. Baldrick's Foundation for 20 years
- One child shaved his head in memory of a friend
- A substitute teacher shaved her head to stand in solidarity with a child currently fighting cancer
(The following is a transcription of the full broadcast story)
It's the 20th anniversary of a local childhood cancer fundraiser. I'm Pari Apostolakos reporting in Green Bay where more than 80 people of all ages have decided to "Brave the shave."
Every year on the Sunday before Saint Patrick's Day, Green Bay comes together to get a cut, for a cause.
"[I'm] just trying to see how we can help and help other families not have to go through that pain," 11-year-old Ethan Stover said. He shaves his head every year in honor of a family friend who died from cancer at 5 years old.
"I know that if we figure out how to stop cancer in kids then that's probably going to be a good start to being able to figure it out in all ages," Stover said after having his head shaved Sunday afternoon.
Sunday marks 20 years of fundraising for the St. Baldrick's Foundation at Saint Brendan's Inn in Green Bay.
"We actually even support our local St. Vincent's Hospital with money for grants and things for their research team," organizer Kelsie Basten said.
She said 85 people signed up to shave their heads Sunday, raising more than $67,000 before the event began, and Saint Brendan's Inn has raised more than $1.5 million in 20 years of hosting the fundraiser.
"No parent should ever outlive their child," Edward Ley, who is shaving his head for the seventh year in a row, said.
According to their website, the Saint Baldrick's Foundation gives money to almost 400 institutions treating children with cancer. They say more children die of cancer than any other disease and worldwide a child is diagnosed every two minutes.
Substitute teacher Brook Vaness shaved her head in solidarity with a child in the Green Bay area.
"He inspired me, as I watched him lose his hair, to join him," she said.
The St. Baldrick's Foundation is based out of California. The first ever head shaving event happened in 2000. In Green Bay, Pari Apostolakos NBC 26.
