Hair hit the floor at Austin’s Saloon & Eatery in Libertyville by the bushel Saturday as the annual St. Baldrick’s fundraiser netted nearly $46,000 for cancer research, officials said.
More than 50 people, many repeat customers, took to the large entertainment stage and had their locks unceremoniously shorn to the delight of friends and family.
Everyone at the event had a story. Many volunteers have had family or friends who have gone through a cancer diagnosis.
Grant High School teacher Ellen Skolar took the stage for the fourth time this year.
Twins Ted and Nate Stouffer, 11, had been growing their hair for months, said their mother. The brothers held large plastic bags into which they dumped the pony tails clipped off by volunteer stylists at the event.
Libertyville High School teachers Mike Mansell, Brady Sullivan and Adam Faulkner have had a pact to participate in St. Baldrick’s for several years.
Sullivan, a math teacher, said he raised just over $4,400 this year. He said he uses email and social media to reach out to potential donors.
“When you’re working for a great cause like this, and you’re working toward something everybody is trying to find better ways of treating, it’s a no-brainer for most of the people I know,” Sullivan said.
Organizer Jen Christensen said St. Baldrick’s fundraising has locally sponsored clinical trials at University of Illinois Chicago. The fundraising is personal for Christensen, whose daughter was diagnosed with pediatric cancer at age 6 and is now 19 years old, with her cancer in remission.
Denys Bucksten is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
