Community supports Hannah’s Heroes
Top fundraising Maples and Balder team (Photo by Deep Blue Images)
(CNS Local Life): More than 1,000 people packed The Wicket Bar in Cricket Square on Friday, 28 September for the sixth annual Hannah’s Heroes Big Shave to raise funds for the St Baldrick’s Foundation, the largest private funder of childhood cancer research. So far, this year’s Big Shave has raised US$350,000, bringing the fundraising total for the six events since 2013 to US$2,027,672.
Organisers reported in a press release that funds are still coming in from events including a coin drive at the Cayman Prep primary school. In addition, the funds raised this year do not reflect donations received by cash, cheque or amount pledged for silent auction items that are still in progress.
More than 100 men, women and children shaved their heads to raise funds and demonstrate their solidarity with children fighting cancer who often lose their hair following chemotherapy treatment. Amongst the freshly shorn were the parents of Cayman’s childhood cancer survivors: Gaylene Meeson, Trent Grant, Woody Foster, Richard Reading, Walter Capasso, Tom Sperandeo and Cesar Fajardo with the following Cayman children being honoured at the event: Mimi Ebanks (age 5), Annabelle Reading (7), Saylor Sperandeo (7), Beau Shields (8), Ava Paige Rico (8), Allie Capasso (10), Charli Foster (10), Hannah Meeson (11), Tayden Grant (11), Matthew Chong-Ping(14) and angels, Caitlin Beverly, Dimitrie Connor and Albert Ebanks.
(Back, L-R) James Baberfeld, Gaylene Meeson and Kelly Forebaugh; (front, L-R) Tayden Grant, Hannah Meeson, Allie Capasso, Anabelle Reading. Ava Paige Rico, Charli Foster and Beau Shields (Photo by Deep Blue Images)
Gaylene Meeson welcomed the crowd, praising the Cayman community’s continued support of fundraising for research, and was joined on stage by Woody Foster who led the audience in an prayer celebrating childhood. Local firm Conyers Dill & Pearman sponsored the travel of the St Baldrick’s Foundation’s Hero Fund Manager Kelly Forebaugh, enabling her to attend the event and recognise supporters in Cayman, stated the release.
“I am profoundly moved by the way the Cayman community has united to support Hannah’s Heroes and take childhood back from cancer,” Forebaugh told the crowd. “I have attended hundreds of Shave events over the years and this one really is incredibly special. I’m honoured to be able to attend the event and meet the dedicated volunteers and donors who have united to help children survive cancer.”
Hannah’s Heroes is one of the most successful shave events in the world for St Baldrick’s having raised more than US$2 million for childhood cancer research, said the release. Since 2005, St Baldrick’s has donated more than $253 million in the form of 1,358 grants to more than 358 institutions in 28 countries.
Top fundraising teams for this year’s Hannah’s Heroes Big Shave included Maples and Balder ($35,442), Ogier Fund-Razors ($29,429), KPMG ($27,122), DART ($22,831.19), PwC ($20,989) and “Savage Cuts”- Savage Consulting ($17,440).
Among the 12 children who took part in the shave was 6-year-old Noah Watson, who raised more than $2,000 and told the crowd that he wanted to help kids stop dying. Woody Foster was the top-performing individual, raising more than $15,000. In addition, 18 shavees donated hair to UK charity The Little Princess Trust who make wigs for children undergoing cancer treatment.
Amongst the honoured returning shavees were St Baldrick’s Squires of Hope, Corey Blohm, Eugene Nolan, Dominic Ross, and the Cayman Islands Fire Service “Firebalds” Team.
Donations can still be made online by visiting the Hannah’s Heroes page on the St Baldrick’s website
