St. Baldrick's Event Buzzes By Fundraising Goal

The St. Baldrick's Foundation already has surpassed its fundraising goal this year, thanks to several area residents willing to go under the clippers and go bald for childhood cancer research.

St. Baldrick's, which raises awareness and funds to cure childhood cancer, aimed to raise $65,000 and raised a total of $78,558 as of Monday. That's one day after the head-shaving event hosted at Quaker Steak & Lube in North Canton.

The organization plans to have an unofficial total within the week.

"We were totally blown away by the support from so many for this wonderful event," said Jaime Lenhart, volunteer event organizer for the North Canton event. "There were hundreds of people that came out — even in the cold!"

Quaker Steak & Lube, which Lenhart said "has been a dream to work with," donated 20 percent of food sales to the cause that day.

"We had several large shave teams that really rallied together to raise money and awareness for childhood cancer," Lenhart added. "'Team Morgan' was our largest shave teams with 43 members, raising over $17,000. They are inspired by one of our honored kids, Morgan, who is battling cancer right now."

Canton Event Founder Nan Foltz and granddaughter Claire shaved their heads this year in memory of Nan's daughter — and Claire's aunt, Abbey Foltz. Together they raised more than $15,000.

The photos here were taken by Lenhart. Looking for more photos? You can find them on the St. Baldrick's Facebook page.

North Canton Patch has profiled a few shavees in the past, including Anna Spuhler, Brady Sabina and Kenzie Johnson. Plus, this year Jessica Meleg-Russ blogged on North Canton Patch about why she shaved her head.