WASHINGTON — Dozens of Georgetown students and faculty gave up their hair for a good cause.
Friday was St. Baldrick’s day, when many organizations and universities around the nation put on fundraisers for the St. Baldrick’s foundation. The foundation funds childhood cancer research and organizers at Georgetown University’s Medical School raised more than $28,000 this year.
“Boy’s shave their heads…and then girls are donating their hair to locks of love,” says Shaila Patel, a second year medical student. She helped organize this year’s event along with two other students. “It’s just really fun to see everybody work together for this really great cause.”
Not only are heads shaved to raise money, the organization believes the act can be a profound statement of solidarity for children receiving cancer treatment. In the past, the foundation has funded cancer research through grants given to Georgetown.
First year medical student Danny McCorry had a big head of hair, but agreed to shave it all off if a colleague raised $1,000. “I don’t actually know the final count, but I know it took her a matter of weeks to raise the thousand dollars,” McCorry said.
Julia Carlson is a second year medical student who donated 10 inches of hair to locks of love. “I’ve had family members that came down with cancer, including this year, my mother came down with cancer,” she said. Carlson says she raised close to $400 in donations leading up to the event.
Tyler Payne was the first one to go under the clippers, “I’m doing all of it. I think this is a great event. I think it gets a lot of turn out, it gets a lot of exposure for an important issue,” he said.
Nationwide last year, the St. Baldricks Foundation funded more than $21 million in cancer research grants and shaved more than 45,000 heads.
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