The Oneida Daily Dispatch (Oneida, NY)
BEARDS FOR BUCKS
Shave-a-thon to support cancer center
For a few hours, Parkway Barber Shop was the safest barber shop in Madison County.
More than a dozen members of the Madison County Sheriff’s Office and Correctional Facility were packed into the barber shop on the corner of Genesee Street in Wampsville to participate in the final part of Beards for Bucks: the shave-a-thon.
Oneida Healthcare reached out to a number of agencies in the area to participate in Beards for Bucks to raise money for the Oneida Health Cancer Care Center in Affiliation with Roswell Park Cancer Institute.
Normally closed on Monday, master barbers Parker Smith and Dalton Buss saw to the grizzled officers who had grown their beards out for the month of November and left them trimmed and cleaned.
“We tried to do something like this for a couple years and Undersheriff John Ball said we could do it this year,” Madison County’s Jason DeJesus said. “Our policy is that we can’t have any facial hair, but we made this adjustment to policy for the charity event.”
It wasn’t just the men who grew beards who donated. Anyone in the department, regardless of ability to grow facial hair or not could donate for the cause.
President Julie Netzband of the Police Benevolent Association presented Joanne Ernenwein of the Oneida Healthcare Foundation with a check for $1,680, putting the total money raised to be approximately $2,500 thanks to the efforts of the Madison County, the City of Sherrill and Canastota.
Ernenwein said that the inspiration for the event came from the Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo, affiliates with the new Oneida Health Care Cancer Center, who do an event like Beards for Bucks every year.
While the easy part is growing the beards, shaving takes time and energy; both of which
Smith was happy to donate.
“When I was first asked to participate, I thought why not give back to the community, especially for such a great cause like this one. I couldn’t be hap- pier to be here right now,” Smith said.
When asked if he would do it again if offered, Smith said, “Of course. Hands down.”