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Before Pictures |
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My
brother Pat Coburn, (left) Ontario, CA and Me, Sierra Madre, CA |
Lt. John E. “Jay” Coburn, Mateson, IL Fire
Dept. – My brother |
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His son Christopher “CJ” Coburn, Mateson, Il |
His other son Nathan “Nate” Coburn, Mateson Il |
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During and After Photos |
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Matt
McSweeney of Matt Denny's calls for new shavees |
Members of Arcadia PD prepping for shaving |
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Let
the shaving begin |
Here's the half on-half off shot |
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Hair's gone, let's work on that beard |
Post
shaving bald guys |
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DOT COM DINING A Look At San
Gabriel Valley Restaurants by SanGabrielValleyMenus.com
Heads Shaved for Charity at Matt Denny’s Ale House Restaurant
By
Bill Coburn
Tuesday, March 8th, Matt Denny’s Ale House Restaurant hosted its
fourth annual St. Baldrick’s event. St. Baldrick’s is a play on words blending
bald with St. Patrick’s Day. This is the sixth year of the St. Baldrick’s
fundraising activity overall, and this year there will be more than 8,000
shavees at more than 200 locations in 37 states across the nation. That’s a
substantial increase over 2004’s numbers of 5,000+ shavees at 164 locations.
But it doesn’t stop there, St. Baldrick’s events have been held in nine
different countries, including Bermuda, Canada, France, Iraq, Ireland, Poland
and the United Kingdom. Among the shavees through the years have been
celebrities such as Jay Leno, Michael Douglas, Evan Marriott (Joe Millionaire),
NASCAR driver Damon Lusk and magician David Blaine.
“We
are thrilled that a record 8,000 brave people at over 200 events will join us in
redefining what letting their hair down means at St. Baldrick’s Day celebrations
throughout the country,” said Tim Kenny, Chairman of the St. Baldrick’s
Foundation. “We have come a long way from the original goal of 17 bald heads in
2000 and we’ll keep shaving until we conquer kids’ cancer!”
Approximately 30 of the shavees were at Matt Denny’s, including several women
shavees (Portland, OR led the nation in woman shavees). There were also several
members of the Arcadia Police Dept. participating.
As
I mentioned in last week’s column,
I got an e-mail from my
firefighter brother, Lt. John Coburn of the Mateson IL Fire Dept., telling me
that his department was going to participate in St. Baldrick's, and telling us
where we could sign up online to sponsor him. Online, I saw that two of his
teenage sons, C.J. and Nathan, had also signed up to have their heads shaved.
Shortly after that e-mail, my other brother, Pat Coburn, who lives in Ontario,
said that he was going to try and support Jay's efforts by shaving his head as
well. I vacillated for a while, but decided that if I could find 10 companies
to sponsor me with a minimum $25 donation, there would be five Coburns shaving
their respective heads, and I’d throw in my beard, as well. I ultimately
received $880 dollars in pledges. I thanked most of the donors last week, but
since then I also received contributions from Lynne Cerrillo-Alvarex of the
Sierra Madre branch of Bank of the West, and Leonora Moss in Sierra Madre, and a
lady who heard me talking about the event as I was collecting from one of my
sponsors. She asked that her contribution be anonymous. Also, in last week’s
column, Sierra Madre City College (a fictional college, but real organization)
was accidentally listed as Mt. Sierra College. My thanks to all of the 25
donors.
The St. Baldrick’s Celebration was started in 2000
by John Bender and Enda McDonnell, two reinsurance executives from New York
City. They had been challenged by a friend and colleague, Tim Kenny, to give
back to society. For quite a while, these men and other friends, all of whom
have Irish roots, had been observing St. Patrick’s Day in the traditional
way---pints at their favorite pub, with music and laughter in great supply.
They decided to give their celebration a little twist and help children
diagnosed with cancer. Because the treatment given these youngsters often causes
their hair to fall out, the group recruited volunteers to have their heads
shaved in public in return for pledges of financial support from friends and
family to support their sacrifice. The event became the St. Baldrick’s
Celebration, and is typically held near St. Patrick’s Day. The first year,
their goal was to raise $17,000 by shaving 17 heads. They raised $104,000. In
2004, more than $3.5 million dollars was raised. Since its inception, more
than $7 million dollars has been raised.
The mission of
the St. Baldrick’s Foundation is to raise awareness and funds to conquer kids’
cancer by shaving heads on St. Baldrick's Day. Cure Search National Childhood
Cancer Foundation is the primary beneficiary of St. Baldrick’s efforts.
CureSearch NCCF supports the work of CureSearch Children’s Oncology Group, a
network of physicians, nurses and scientists who conduct clinical trials in
childhood cancer and perform cutting-edge research at more than 200 member
institutions, representing every pediatric cancer program in North America,
treating over 90 percent of children with cancer in North America. As a result
of CureSearch COG’s collaborative research effort, the cancer death rate has
dropped more dramatically for children than for any other age group, and has
directly led to significant increases in cure rates for childhood cancer.
Tuesday’s
event was a smashing success, with more than $11,000 raised at Matt Denny’s.
That number is expected to increase substantially due to the fact that many
sponsors don’t give the shavees the funds until after the event. I had one
donor tell me that he wouldn’t give me a check until I came in and “showed him
my ugly bald mug.” Nearly one third of my pledges had not been collected in
time for Tuesday’s events, and I suspect that my collected percentage was
substantially higher than many of the shavees. That figure also does not
include contributions made online. I’ll write an update when we have a little
better idea what the total collected was. If you’d like to make a contribution,
go to www.stbaldricks.org, or call (888) 899-BALD.
Bill Coburn is owner of SanGabrielValleyMenus.com, a restaurant website
featuring more than 160 restaurant’s menus, as well as downloadable coupons. He has
nearly 20 years experience in the restaurant business, and has been eating for
much longer than that. |
