Bald For Bucks

[ImpishAngel]

From elementary school kids to the superintendent himself, members of North Collins School District - united in the spirit of charity - shaved their heads to raise money to find a cure for cancer.
But the more than $8,000 collected for the "Goin' Bald for Bucks" drive to benefit Roswell Park Cancer Institute has been stolen.

"I'm very troubled by the fact that the money that everybody worked so hard to raise is missing," said North Collins Superintendent Benjamin Halsey. "It was a tremendous effort; I feel badly for the students who gave of themselves."

The money, kept in labeled envelopes and stored in a safe at the high school, could not be found Friday morning, Halsey said.

It had been in the care of advisers, and Halsey wouldn't say whether the safe had been broken into. State Police are investigating.

"People's spirits are damaged a little bit because of this," the superintendent said. "We had a breakdown somewhere in the system, and we have to see how this happened."

Anthony George, a North Collins resident, started the drive five years ago in support of his sister - ill with breast cancer and undergoing chemotherapy and radiation treatments - "so she wouldn't feel self-conscious about being bald," he said.

A history teacher at Lake Shore Senior High School, George shaved his head and inspired his students to do the same. The drive has grown into a regional act of charity.

His sister, Cathleen George, a graduate of North Collins High School, died in 2004.

The drive has raised more than $250,000 in five years.

This year's effort began in March and more than 700 Western New Yorkers shaved their heads.

The Lake Shore, North Collins, Hamburg, Eden and Frontier school districts, Connors Middle School in the Grand Island district, Buffalo State College and Daemen College participated to raise $85,000 for cancer research. At North Collins High School, 50 students and staffers participated.

Anthony George said the incident is "heart-wrenching."

He said he suspects the thief knew about the cause because the envelopes were labeled "Goin' Bald for Bucks."

"That person could be stealing a potential cure for cancer," he said. "It was more than $8,000 that could go a long way toward research."

The incident has him baffled.

"It's a small community [and] to think that one of our own has done that breaks my heart," he said.

State Police Officer Rebecca Gibbons said contributors who wrote personal checks to help the effort should cancel their checks. Anyone with information about the missing money is urged to call State Police at 941-9300.

http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20 ... 046383.asp

[Scottish Ninja]

I hope they find the asshole who did this soon.