University of Connecticut sophomore Alyssa Mattera raised $4,238 for the St. Baldrick’s foundation and shaved her 30 inches of blonde hair on March 28.
“I can only imagine what it would be like (to have cancer), I want to help in any way that I can,” Mattera said when asked why she chose this cause. The first time she donated her hair was in third grade, when she donated a foot to Locks of Love.
St. Baldrick’s Foundation provided the information that they are a volunteer-driven charity committed to funding the most promising research to find cures for childhood cancers and give survivors long and healthy lives. Childhood cancer includes many diseases that harm children and teens very differently from the cancers that harm adults. Shaving your head serves the purpose of standing in solidarity with those children fighting cancer.
“I am nervous, but also extremely excited. My hair is important to me, like a safety net and I’m not sure what to expect without it. I also can’t wait for all the hats,” Mattera said before the event.
This was Mattera’s first time participating in St. Baldrick’s and she had a fundraising goal of a quarter of a million dollars. Although she wasn’t able to reach that in time, she fundraised up until the event.
Her family has been supportive during this experience with helping with donations and buying hats. They also drove to New York at four in the morning to try to get on the today show, only to find out that it was in Washington that day, Mattera said.
Mattera is a member of the co-ed honors fraternity, Phi Sigma Pi that works closely with Teach for America and is a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution which does many fundraising projects.
The National Residence Hall Honorary, a UConn organization, hosted the third annual St. Baldrick’s that Mattera is participating in on March 28 from 4-8 pm in the ballroom of the Student Union.
Jackie Lazzaro, president of NRHH, comments on the organization process and what goes into planning for this event. The first step is registering, then reserving space, coordinating barbers and hair stylists that can shave heads and fulfill certain positions on the foundation website, such as treasurer and event coordinator. Further planning includes how unique you want to make the event, with different activities and then finally spreading the word to make the event big and raise as much money as possible.
This year’s fundraising goal is NRHH’s highest goal yet of $10,000, said Lazzaro. With Mattera’s fundraising efforts they are already halfway there.
This year NRHH has more women shavees than ever before, Lazzaro said.
“My favorite part of the event is watching shavees come with friends to get haircuts together. I also love seeing how happy they are supporting each other and the cause,” Lazzaro said.
The event was open to both students and the public. People participated in new fun activities this year that also helped benefit the St. Baldrick’s Foundation. There were speakers and performances to be enjoyed on the day of the event as well, said Lazzaro.
St. Baldrick’s said donors should expect their money to go to research projects to find cures or give survivors better quality of life, grants to train new pediatric oncologists, and supporting the Children’s Oncology Group.
Dr. Dean Lee, St. Baldrick’s scholar, saw firsthand how donations make a difference.
“I am incredibly blessed to count myself among those who have seen projects from their laboratory materialize into actual clinical trials of novel therapies. This would never have happened without your support. I will make sure that every parent of a child that we treat with NK cells knows that a crazy group of ordinary people with a vision- and a willingness to bare a shaved head- made it all happen,” Lee said.
St. Baldrick’s statistics state that Universities and Colleges have hosted 142 events and raised $1,452,987.