Why am I shaving my head with St. Baldrick’s? Because your donation “on my head” will actually save lives. Kids with cancer need our support now more than ever. St. Baldrick’s is the largest non-government funder of childhood cancer research grants, and the pandemic has slashed donations, slowing down the progress to find cures. Cancer kills more of our kids than any other disease. Research can change that, and I don’t want to let these kids down. Can you help? Thank you so much! 

So, the paragraph above is the standard prewritten message St. Baldrick's provides. I came to it less nobly. There is a guy at the sportsman's club I belong to (Huron Pointe Sportsmen's Association)named Tommy. I would see Tommy almost exclusively during the winter. Over the years his hair got longer and loooonger. I saw him at the club one time with two braids running down his back to his butt! Being the good willed and open minded individual I am, I thought to myself. "Tommy you look like some sort of half assed Willie Nelson wanabe." Well, not long after that I saw Tommy and the hair was gone! He was back to his old flat top of which I completely approved. I asked him what was up. He told me he had donated his luscious locks to Wigs for Kids ( https://www.wigs4kids.org ). As we were talking I sheepishly admitted to him my not so good willed or open minded thought I had about his hair. Between my guilt and Tommy's persuasiveness he talked me in growing my hair out and donating it. Sometime in the last fourteen months of growing my hair out I was told I should have my hair shaved off at St. Baldrick's when it's long enough to donate. That time has arrived. I'm having my having twelve inch plus hair shaved off May 4th at the Armada Fairgounds St. Baldrick's event. Thank you for reading my participation Chautauqua. And most especially thank you for donating some of your hard earned personal wealth to benefit kids with childhood cancers.