By Scott Brinton
So, he thought, why not bring a similar event to Merrick. The non-profit St. Baldrick's Foundation raises money for childhood cancer research by asking participants to shave their heads and collect pledges.
Last spring, Magnuson was uncertain how much Calhoun would be able to collect in its first year hosting a St. Baldrick's fund-raiser. As it turned out, the school raised $34,000.
This year, Magnuson and other Central District officials decided to expand the fund-raiser to include Calhoun, Kennedy and Mepham high schools. And with help from Grand Avenue Middle School in Bellmore and Merrick Avenue Middle School in Merrick, the Central District collected more than $130,000 for the St. Baldrick's Foundation. The district's original goal was to raise $100,000.
Magnuson, Calhoun's lacrosse coach, said, "I thought [St. Baldrick's] would be a great thing to bring to Calhoun. I think it's a great community builder. There is nothing sadder than to see a child suffer with cancer. We're going to try to keep it rolling."
In all, Calhoun raised $75,000 for St. Baldrick's, Mepham $36,000 and Kennedy $20,000.
In addition, the Central District held a walk-a-thon, which started on March 15 at Kennedy, headed to Mepham and ended at Calhoun. An estimated 500 to 600 Central District students, parents and teachers took part in the event, which raised $20,000 for Camp Adventure, a summer camp for children with cancer, run by the American Cancer Society.
And 120 to 130 girls took part in the Central District's Chop Your Locks for Charity event, sponsored in part by Pantene Pro-V Beautiful Lengths. Students could donate eight or more inches of hair to the Beautiful Lengths campaign, which creates wigs for women suffering from cancer who lose their hair to chemotherapy.
Brian DeGaetano, a Kennedy High School phys. ed. teacher, took part in the St. Baldrick's fund-raiser, having his head shaved. "I haven't had it like this since college," DeGaetano joked. Back then, he said, he shaved his head at times for wrestling.
"It was our first year doing [the St. Baldrick's fund-raiser] as a school," DeGaetano said. "Next year, it'll be even bigger. It brought excitement to the school. It was an easy fund-raiser."
St. Baldrick's participants received Web pages on which donors could make pledges. DeGaetano said he sent out the Web link to his friends and family, and they offered donations on the site.
"I couldn't believe how much money we raised in such a short amount of time," DeGaetano said.
Calhoun's Principal David Seinfeld also had his head shaved for St. Baldrick's. "It's an enormous amount of money" that the Central District raised, Seinfeld said. "It's really hard to get your handle on it. People just stepped up. In a short period of time, it's become cultural, at least in my building."
Calhoun's football coach, Joe Bianca, worked closely with Magnuson to organize the school's St. Baldrick's fund-raiser. "The reason this was successful was because we had Dave Seinfeld, our principal, totally supportive of this," Bianca said.
He noted that Seinfeld allowed Magnuson and Bianco to hold four assemblies with students to promote the fund-raiser. "We told the kids that we're going to battle against cancer," Bianca said, "and we're all on the same team."
Comments about this story? Sbrinton@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 203.
