Heads shaved for cancer fight
By Ethan Smith
Published in News on April 12, 2015 1:50 AM
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Alex Grice, 11, has his head shaved during a St. Baldrick's fundraiser for the cure of childhood cancer held at The Flying Shamrock on Saturday evening. Alex has participated in the event every year since it began six years ago.
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News-Argus/MELISSA KEY
Steve Moye laughs as he gets his head shaved for the fifth year in a row as part of a fundraiser for St. Baldrick's.
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News-Argus/MELISSA KEY
Jianna Jarrett, left, shaves the first part of her father Kirt Jarrett's hair for the St. Baldrick's fundraiser held at The Flying Shamrock on Saturday evening.
Kirt Jarrett parted ways with a 31-year-old friend Saturday night.
But no tears were shed.
Only hair.
Jarrett shaved his hair, beard and 31-year-old mustache off on Saturday night in the parking lot of The Flying Shamrock to raise money for the St. Baldrick's foundation, who held a head-shaving event to raise awareness and money for research to fight childhood cancer.
He still remembers the day he first started growing his mustache.
"It was Nov. 23, 1983, and I haven't shaved it since," Jarrett said. "But this was for a good cause."
Jarrett originally planned to shave only his shoulder-length hair and beard -- but raised $270 from the crowd on the spot to let the barber shave his mustache.
"I have four children, and they were all born healthy," Jarrett said. "I can't even begin to imagine having children that would have had to fight childhood cancer."
He raised $1,100 prior to the event to shave his hair and beard.
More than $25,000 was raised for Saturday night's event, exceeding the goal of $20,000. Since the event started in Goldsboro, more than $115,000 has been raised to fund research on childhood cancer.
More than 50 people participated -- some of which were female.
Erin Glinski traveled from Pennsylvania to participate because her cousins -- Chad and Rosalie Cobb -- started the event in Goldsboro six years ago and have held it every year since.
"It feels good," she said. "It's for a great cause. It was about chin-length before I shaved it."
Ms. Glinski raised $2,240 to shave her head prior to the event, beating her previous amount raised when she participated in the event in 2012.
Jarrett wasn't the only one on Saturday night who shaved his mustache.
Billy Jones had his mustache for 12 years before shaving it on Saturday night, and has participated in the event for seven years.
"We're just having fun with it," Jones said. "I'm always bald in the summer, but this year I wanted to do something more to raise extra money."
Jones grew his mustache out a little extra for the event, growing a full handlebar before announcing at his workplace Monday that he would be participating in the event and raising an extra $140 for the event this week.
"I'm out here raising money to find a cure so children won't have to fight this disease," Jones said.
The event Saturday night ran from 5 p.m. until 10 p.m., and hair flew off of people's heads and onto the ground for all five hours.
"The money from the event all goes to people doing research in pediatric oncology," said Steve Moye, who participated in the event for the fifth time this year. "It's all to support childhood cancer research."
Bryan Johnston accompanied Moye in his head-shaving venture, also for the fifth time.
"It's a good cause and it gives us something to do," Johnston said.
According to Mrs. Cobb, 15 volunteers helped work the event Saturday night, and six barbers volunteered to help and armed themselves with hair clippers to shave people's hair.
The Flying Shamrock also participated in the event beyond simply providing a venue. Cobb said 25 percent of all food sales Saturday night went to the St. Baldrick's Foundation to fund research on childhood cancer.