55.0°,
Mostly Cloudy Mepham preps for St. Baldrick’s
Teacher's daughter to be honored at annual fundraiser
More than 250 Mepham High School students, faculty and staff members are preparing to shave their heads and donate their hair during the annual Chop Your Locks For Charity fundraiser.
On March 19, members of the Mepham community will go bald in solidarity with childhood cancer patients while raising funds for the St. Baldrick’s Foundation. Others will donate eight or more inches of their hair to the Pantene Pro-V Beautiful Lengths Campaign, which creates real-hair wigs for cancer patients. Chop Your Locks For Charity will begin at 6 p.m. at the school, at 2401 Camp Ave. in North Bellmore.
Three faculty members –– Maura Kempton, Marie Netto and Marybeth Vetro –– brought Chop Your Locks For Charity to Mepham in 2008. Last year, the fundraiser became “senior-driven,” and the class of 2013 exceeded its $50,000 goal.
Christopher Patten and Kerry Dennis, two Mepham social studies teachers, coordinate senior service-learning projects at the school. After discussing healthcare issues in class and doing charity work to benefit the Ronald McDonald House in the fall of 2012, members of the class of 2013 learned about childhood cancer research last spring.
Organizers said that more than 125 heads were shaved at Chop Your Locks For Charity last March, and 40 ponytails were cut and used to make wigs through Pantene’s campaign. The Mepham community raised more than $59,000.
Mepham High School’s St. Baldrick’s web page shows that the community is already working to exceed last year’s total, as more than $21,000 was raised by 250 registered participants as of March 7. But Patten noted that the event is about more than a number.
“Success in our eyes is never a dollar amount,” he said. “It’s more about what kind of impact the kids made.”
The special honoree at this year’s event will be 1-year-old Giuliana Geller, who was diagnosed with undifferentiated small round cell sarcoma last August. She is the daughter of Mepham social studies teacher Jackie Geller, who has already raised more than $3,600 for St. Baldrick’s this year.
