St Baldwick’s Cuts It Close

Banner in front of the Valhalla Fire Company #1

On a beautiful end-of-summer Sunday morning, the last thing any family wants to think about beyond that final summer barbecue, starting school, and working around the yard is cancer. Those six letters, that one word used to automatically be a death sentence. Not any more. Cancer screenings and cancer treatments have progressed tremendously. In part, the St Baldwick’s Cancer Research Foundation has played a big part in that.

St. Baldrick’s head-shaving events began as a challenge between businessmen and have grown from one event in 2000 to over 1,300 events in 2012, raising critical funds for childhood cancer research. Events take place in pubs, restaurants, schools, churches, parks, malls, military bases, firehouses and any other place you can imagine.

Event Coordinator Kristine DeRezis, far left, addresses the crowd before
the Riguzzi family gets their heads shaved. Second from left is cancer
survivor 12 year old Joey. His Mom is the second from the right with blue
hair and “Patriots” written on her forehead. 

The Valhalla Fire Department, along with numerous other area fire departments has hosted a head shaving event for four years now, with this year’s event raising a “pre”-event amount of $20,000. The goal today was to raise a mere $1,000. In fact, one woman we spoke with, Sandy Riguzzi, had a friend from Boston pledge $1,000 for her to shave her head. Not to be outdone, the friend’s husband pledged $1000 and 1 if she would dye her hair (Boston Patriots) blue and write Patriots on her forehead –which she did. She insisted on telling us that even though she dyed her hair blue and wrote patriots on her forehead, she is a diehard NY Jets fan! She is shaving her head to support her son Joey, age 12 who  has Downs Syndrome and is a cancer survivor as well. The family has raised $7,000 for today’s event.

Maddie Manfredi, 12, sings the National Anthem.

Maddie Manfredi, 12 years old, sang the Star Spangled Banner national anthem a capella before a crowd of about one hundred people. She was spot-on and would give many contestants on American Idol or America’s Got Talent a run for their money. The crowd erupted with loud applause when she finished. Someday we may be paying to hear her sing!

It would be terrific if we didn’t need an organization like St Baldwick’s; but until we can find a cure for cancer, its great to know there are so many volunteers willing to make the effort to help such a small portion of society. And after the laughter of seeing our friends with shaved heads passes, its also nice to know that they too are willing to help with this simple, and yet impactful gesture. Thanks to everyone for helping out.