This year, Mepham participated in its 14th annual “Chop Your Locks for Charity” event on March 20, 2024. The St. Baldrick’s Foundation was started in 2000 by John Bender, Tim Kenny, and Enda McDonnell. It first gained attention in 1999 as a challenge to give back in gratitude for their success as business owners. Since then, it has become the world’s largest volunteer-driven fundraising event for childhood cancer research. Since its creation over two decades ago, it has raised $324 million, seen thousands of participants shave their heads in solidarity, and has expanded internationally with participants in countries like Argentina, India and Uganda.
The south gym was buzzing with hundreds of people present to show their support. Inside the gym, attendees could enjoy face painting, music,a bagpipes performance, dancing and many other fun activities. With a fundraising goal of $50,000, Mepham was not only able to achieve that goal, but they knocked it out of the park, receiving over $51,000 online in donations as of March 20, 2024. At the time of the event, this year’s biggest fundraisers were Merrick Avenue Middle School social studies teacher Matthew Chicco, seniors Christina Bliss and Kieran Kehoe, sophomore Sofia Tibaldi and freshman Daniel Corcoran. This event was run by Mr. Patten and Ms. Dennis who put in their hard work and dedication to make sure everything ran smoothly.
After this entertaining night, we asked some members of the Mepham community to share their thoughts on it. “It’s a really wonderful event. I just love participating in it so much,” says shavee Braiden Giorgianni.
Another shavee, Maximo Chiodi, made the big chop from around shoulder length hair to a buzzed haircut. He said, “It was a fun event and it was good knowing that I could donate my hair and money to a good cause. If you didn’t do it this year, you should definitely do it next year.”
As one can see, it’s a cherished event throughout the Bellmore-Merrick community, and attending has left life-long memories within the community. We should all continue to fight against childhood cancer at Mepham High School and brave the shave every March.
