I’ll be honest. I had a bit of a St Patrick’s Day hangover …well, metaphorically speaking anyway. It’s been a full month of nothing but Guinness and whiskey and I need a break! As I started to record some event notes as a debrief (like party shot pouches were a HIT – do that again!), I found my hangover cure: reading over the St Baldrick’s Foundation fundraiser figures.
St Baldrick’s Foundation is a non-profit organization that raises money and awareness to fight childhood cancer whereby each year thousands of ‘shavees’ sign up and then ask their friends, neighbors and co-workers for donations. On the big day, everyone comes to Fadó and, with the help from as equally as many volunteers, they shave their heads bald. For such a serious issue, it’s an extremely festive atmosphere! Fadó has partnered with St Baldrick’s Foundation since 2002 and as we were approaching March, and before the big fundraising really kicked in, we realized that we were at 6 million dollars raised in total as a company since we began our work with St. Baldrick’s! Needles to say, we were elated and it really became a rallying point for shavees this year it seemed to want to knock it out of the park.
And, we are proud to report that the teams across the country did just that!
$981,727 raised by 1058 shavees this year across 9 Fado Pubs.
Those numbers are impressive and we are all damned proud. But what makes fundraising for St. Baldrick’s so meaningful are the individuals whose lives are changed so profoundly. There are so many personal, inspiring stories.
And, here are a few of those local stories:
Denver: 526 shavees raised $427,206.68
By all accounts, this could be a top 3 earner in the entire country for all Baldrick’s fundraisers. One great story involved 4 nurses called Team Tuesday. And, in honor of the loss of the team captain’s daughter, Tuesday Whitt to neuroblastoma when she was 2 years old, they encouraged folks to dress up in super hero and princess costumes set up carnival games, caricature drawings, face painting, raffle prizes. The entire event was next level and Team Tuesday was the top team on the day raising over $64,000 of the $427,206.68
Seattle: 53 shavees raised $46,913.95
Named GQ Magazine’s Top 10 Soccer bars during the 2010 World Cup, the Seattle pub has always been a solid supporter’s bar for the Seattle Sounders FC and its players. This year, showing a bit of thanks for all that love I suppose, Sounders players Dylan Remick and David Estrado stopped in and guest barbered on the big day! The goal of $30,000 was exceeded by a long shot this year!
Annapolis: 123 shavees raised $113,441.74
Each shavee signs up for his/her own reasons and local Firefighter and friend of the pub, Christopher Ross sums it up best: “I signed up five years ago after I met, Joseph Sudo, a child battling cancer. After seeing Josephs strength I realized that I was going to be fighting for him. Unfortunately Joseph passed away. Although he was only 12 when he passed away two years ago, I know he was stronger than I could ever be. I will always miss Joseph and want to fight for the children in his memory.”
Atlanta: 48 shavees raised $101,013
In a show of solidarity for kids undergoing chemotherapy, a group of staff members from Children’s Hospital of Atlanta volunteered and, for neurosurgeon Dr. Brahma, one of his former patients (now a cancer survivor) even came out and did the honors of shaving his head! In total, the 1 team raised more than $65,000.
That’s a LOT of bald heads kicking around cities all across America, especially if you think about the fact that we aren’t the only bar supporting this fantastic cause. Case in point, when I was at my salon just yesterday, I was getting my hair cut by a 20-something stylist with a shaved head. I couldn’t help myself and told her she had a fabulous bald head. Well, that was all she needed to tell me how she just shaved it all off for charity at a local pub. She didn’t think that she raised much ($1,200-something) but she had such an amazing day and has immense pride when people mention her baldness regardless. I asked if she was going to keep it shaved since she really does pull off the Sinead O’Connor look quite well. She proclaimed ‘heck no’, I have to grow it out so I can participate in St Baldrick’s again next year!”
Yep …the countdown to St Patrick’s Day 2015 is on!