Tags Posts tagged with "St. Baldrick’s"

St. Baldrick’s

By Aramis Khosronejad

Earl L. Vandermeulen High School in Port Jefferson hosted its sewcond annual St. Baldrick’s event on March 15. During the event, students and faculty volunteered to shave their hair in solidarity with all those who are struggling with or have already gone into remission from a childhood cancer. 

In addition to those who “brave the shave” during this event, Port Jefferson high school helped fundraise by selling merchandise or simply accepting donations. All the money raised was donated to the St. Baldrick’s Foundation. 

According to the American Childhood Cancer Organization, there are more than 300,000 children diagnosed globally with cancer each year. In the U.S. alone, more children die due to cancer than any other disease. The St. Baldrick’s Foundation is an international organization dedicated to funding research for different kinds of childhood cancer to help accelerate and improve this type of research. 

The principal of the high school, John Ruggero, is passionate about hosting St. Baldrick’s events annually and exposing the high school to these kinds of events. 

“I want to get it so it occurs every year, so that lots of students and faculty and families, and people off the streets, come to donate,” he said.

Ruggero has been hosting St. Baldrick events for “over a decade,” he said. The principal is a firm believer that the most important education “takes place outside of the four walls” of a classroom. 

“When you have a philanthropic mindset, it really opens your mind out to what’s happening around us,” he said. Ruggero pointed out that these events can show students the most important lesson: If possible, doing things for others “should come first.”

“What happens is that kids who start to see that people rally behind these [events] become a little more confident in sharing their stories and want to get the word out,” Ruggero explained. He elaborated on how he wanted students to learn “the impact their actions have on others’ lives.”

The event was also supported and promoted by a 16-year-old student, Kyle Martin. When he was a child, Martin was fighting cancer and has been in remission for almost been eight years. 

Martin approached Ruggero and expressed his own desire for the school to host such an event, and the two worked together to bring the dream alive. Ruggero expressed his admiration for Martin’s mindset and ideas, explaining how because of his remission, Martin has been inspired to help other kids who are battling cancer. It’s safe to say that St. Baldrick’s will become a powerful tradition that Port Jefferson will adopt in future years. 

Three Village Dads Foundation held a fundraiser April 16 to raise money for the St. Baldrick’s Foundation. Food trucks were available during the event. Photo from Three Village Dads Foundation

On April 16, the Three Village Dads Foundation organized a fundraiser to raise funds for childhood cancer research for the St. Baldrick’s Foundation. Representatives from the Suffolk County Department of Health Services interrupted the event, saying that the proper permits had not been purchased.

David Tracy, chairman and CEO of Three Village Dads, refused to shut down the event.  He was upset by the disruption and contacted several news outlets to seek some answers and hopefully an apology from the county.

On April 17, a spokesperson from the county told Newsday that the citation given to the Three Village Dads Foundation did not carry a fine, but on May 2 the Department of Health Services did send out summons to two different vendors that had donated their time at the event: Chico’s Tex Mex and The Long Island Airstream Experience.

“We were thinking that, with not hearing anything after the public pushback, they were willing to just kind of forget about it,” Tracy said in a phone interview. “Maybe they realized, ‘Maybe we kind of kicked the wrong hornet’s nest here,’ and they were just going to leave it alone. And then all of a sudden here we are getting these letters to appear in court.”

Tracy’s biggest frustration is the lack of communication and clarity from the county. “Nobody from the county at any level called to even tell me that I was wrong,” Tracy said referring to the permits that were not secured prior to the event. “It was pure ignorance; it wasn’t negligence. We weren’t trying to avoid paying a $100 permit.”

Tracy said that they raised over $25,000 for childhood cancer research and that paying a small fee for permits would not have been an issue. He wishes that someone from the Health Department had contacted him prior to the event.

“Why not just pick up the phone and rectify it there if it was truly all about educating us?” Tracy queried, referring to the fact that a spokesperson from the county told Newsday that their purpose was to educate the event organizers about regulations for future events.

An email from the Department of Health’s media relations department said that on April 10 it became aware through a Facebook advertisement that Long Island Airstream Experience would be operating at the Three Village Dads event. “The Facebook post contained no contact information for the sponsor or organizer of the event,” the email stated. “As a result, [Bureau of Public Health Protection]was unable to contact the organizer in advance to discuss SCDHS requirements for food service.”

The Three Village Dad’s website is the first search result when googling “Three Village Dads,” and contact information can be found on that website.

Tracy expressed that Airstream Experience and Chico’s Tex Mex both were donating their time for the event and were doing this as a favor to Tracy and the Three Village Dads.

“My organization will be paying any fines,” Tracy said. “I even have people that are ready to start a fundraiser if need be.”

Tracy believes that the Health Department was primarily targeting The Long Island Airstream Experience after some complaints from food truck vendors on Long Island that airstreams are not scrutinized as heavily as food trucks are. Tracy said the county may have used this event as an opportunity to fine the airstream business and that the Three Village Dads and particularly Chico’s Tex Mex got caught in the crossfire.

“They’re just going after the airstream business and they used our event to get to him,” Tracy said.

Another email from the Department of Health’s media relations department states that Chico’s Tex Mex will not face a fine since they do not have a history of non-compliance, but that “LI Airstream Experience has a history of non-compliance with the department and faces a possible fine.”

The email also added that Long Island Airstream Experience “has previously been informed that the operation meets the sanitary code definition of food service and requires department permits.”

 “I’m ready for this to be over,” Tracy said. “I was hoping that it was already over. It’s unfortunate this has to be dragged out again … I don’t want the county to look bad … but they need to understand that there’s different ways to go about things and this was handled poorly.”

Thomas Francis of The Long Island Airstream Experience and Vinny Galan of Chico’s Tex Mex are scheduled to appear to answer for the alleged permit violations on May 31. The summons state that penalties could be up to $2,000 for a violation.

Seventh-grade science teacher John Braun donned a green mohawk and bellowed on bagpipes as he led a group of students into a packed Northport-East Northport Middle School auditorium. At the district’s St. Baldrick’s Day event, March 8, around 39 students and staff volunteered their time and lined up to shave their heads in support of childhood cancer research. 

Since 2007, the middle school has raised nearly $215,000 and its team, The Bald Tigers, has raised more than $14,000 this year. 

“I thought it was going to run its course, maybe be a year or two, but it has gotten bigger and bigger every year,” Braun said. “The kids get really excited to get involved and be a part of it.”

When Braun was in middle school, his best friend’s older brother died of cancer. He said that story is why he became involved with St. Baldrick’s. 

Over the years, the district has been impacted by childhood cancer, and for this year’s shave they honored a number of individuals including Caleb Paquet, who died in August 2017 after a battle with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, and Danielle DeSimone, a former student who at 19 was diagnosed with leukemia. 

DeSimone couldn’t be at the event but sent a video thanking the crowd for participating in the event and for continuing to raise awareness for childhood cancer research. 

The crowd listened to her story of how one week she was surfing with her friends, and the next week she was in a hospital bed where she stayed for five months receiving treatment. After seven rounds of chemotherapy she was informed that she was a candidate for a bone marrow transplant. She received a transplant from a person in Germany and went on to say one day she hopes to meet them.   

“I’m still in recovery — it’s tough and a really slow process but one thing that has been consistent throughout everything has been the support of the Northport-East Northport community,” DeSimone said. “Every well-wish just reminds me every single day to keep going and that I have a full community of people behind just rooting for me and pushing me to get to my goal of getting better.” 

Nicole Paquet, the mother of Caleb, also spoke at the event about her personal experiences.

She said her son, up until he received news of his diagnosis, was very much like Danielle, a robust, healthy person who was an avid outdoorsman and enjoyed long distance walks. 

“You are not just shaving your head, wearing a T-shirt and getting a green hair extension, you are a part of a much bigger mission today,” she said. 

Caleb’s mother added many research hospitals are able to receive grants to help them come up with better treatments for cancer thanks to the money raised from St. Baldrick’s events. 

“Many children’s lives will be saved because of this research and treatment — I have hope that more types of treatment will be developed in the years to come,” Paquet said. “I also have a grand hope that there will be a cure for cancer in my lifetime.”

This year’s St. Baldrick’s event also honored Charlotte Stewart, a current middle school student who is battling cancer. When she was called up on stage to participate in the head-shave she received a loud ovation from the packed crowd.   

Braun couldn’t have been happier with this year’s turnout. 

“The community is great — I grew up here, I went to school here, I still live here — they’ve always been super supportive of any event we do, and I couldn’t imagine doing this
anywhere else.”

By David Luces

Students, teachers and parents in Commack recently went bald for a cause.

For the 10th year running, members of the Commack School District and surrounding community gathered at the high school March 1 to shave their heads in support of childhood cancer research. Over 100 people participated to raise money for the St. Baldrick’s Foundation, a not-for-profit whose goal is to raise funds to find cures for childhood cancer. 

In the past nine years the district has held the event, Commack has raised over $650,000. This year the district raised close to $45,000, with some teams donating well over $10,000. 

The annual event is organized by Commack High School teachers Lee Tunick, Bill Scaduto and Dan Revera. Since its inception, close to 1,000 people have shaved their heads in solidarity to those suffering childhood cancer. Hairdressing students from Eastern Suffolk BOCES donated their time to cut the participants hair.

The idea for the fundraiser came about through a cancer awareness club that Revera and Scaduto ran at the high school for quite some time. 

“Bill Scaduto and myself have been working in this building for 20 years,” said Revera. At that time St. Baldrick’s didn’t exist as we know it today. When we first found out about St. Baldrick’s, we would go to a school in Northport and a colleague of mine thought why don’t we host our own event here [at the high school].” 

Now with the event in its 10th year, Revera said it is great to see Commack School District students and community come out to support this.  

“One of the main influx of people [that come here] are the elementary students,” the high school teacher said. “Anything that we can do to generate [money] to help these kids who are going through this is great.” Revera added that the students that came to the event have shown bravery, have stood up for what’s right and are dedicated to a good cause. 

“That’s why we are here,” he said. “Just the thought of a family going through something like this and dealing with their child battling cancer — I can’t even imagine. If providing one day where we can support them and try to help however we can, it’s the least we can do.”