Teacher Michele Masterman preps former student Gabriel Henao for his St. Baldrick's Day head shave.
VENTNOR Students at the Ventnor Educational Community Complex spent the last day before spring break celebrating St. Baldrick's Day. The annual event allows the entire school to have fun in the gym while their peers and friends from the community get a little head shearing on the sidelines.
The dodge ball tournament and tug-of-war competitions kept the students cheering, while their classmates and Ventnor police officers and firefighters took a little off the top.
Margeaux Moore of Anthony Hair Design on Gladstone Avenue in Margate did the honors.
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First grade teacher Michele Masterman did the first few cuts for her former student, four-year Ventnor Police Officer Gabriel Henao, who was one of the first to get his head shaved to honor the children who are fighting the dreaded disease.
I did it to be charitable and in honor of a family member who passed away from cancer five years ago, he said. I let Helen buzz my hair when I was a kid because it made her feel better, so I'm doing it again today for the kids."
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Members of the Ventnor City firefighters union contributed $250 to the St. Baldrick's Day Foundation.
Fifth grade teacher Scott Yakita, who organizes the St. Baldrick's Day event every year commended the students for helping others.
You're doing this for kids who are really struggling with the disease, he said.
The first St. Baldrick's Day event occurred in a New York City pub on St. Patrick's Day in 2000. The goal on that first day was to shave 17 heads and raise $17,000, but it turned out that the event raised $104,000. The fundraising idea caught on and since that first event, the foundation has raised more than $258 million for pediatric cancer research grants.
For more information, see stbaldricks.org.
