“Ask me why I am bald” is what it said on the pin being worn by Fr. Robert “Mac” McLaughlin as he stood outside St. Catherine’s Church in Cedar Grove after a recent Sunday mass.

The reason Fr. Mac and many other members of the community are bald is because of their participation in the annual St. Baldrick’s event hosted by the Cedar Grove Elks Lodge. St. Baldrick’s is a foundation that fundraises money for research to help cure children’s cancer.

There are many roles that one can take for a St. Baldrick’s event. You can be a barber, a shavee or just give a donation to the foundation. The shavee’s role is to raise money by getting a buzz cut or a completely shaved head.

Why the bald heads? The members participating in the event shave their heads to show solidarity for children who are fighting cancer. Did you know worldwide that one child is diagnosed with some form of cancer every three minutes? Or that one out of every five children in the United States will lose that battle with cancer? The goal of this organization is to help lower that number.

The foundation describes itself as “a volunteer-driven charity committed to funding the most promising research to find cures for childhood cancers and give survivors long and healthy lives.”

This is the seventh year that the Cedar Grove Elks have done this event. This year there were fifty shaves, including three women. Every one of the shavees, walked into the small Elks lodge with a different hairstyle but all of them walked out with the same one. Those members who have participated seven years in a row were knighted by New Jersey State Senator Kevin O’Toole and joined the ranks of the “Knights of the Bald Table.”

The event raised over 40,000 dollars. Fr. Mac, who participated in the event on the Cedar Grove Police Department team, was the top fundraiser at the event bringing in $6,140; his original goal was $1,500. The Cedar Grove Police Department team raised over $12,000.

“I always wanted to find a good charity that I could be a part of and feel that I am actually helping someone,” said Fr. Mac.

Fr. Mac was introduced to the charity by Officer Jeff McElroy of the Cedar Grove Police Department. Fr. Mac also shaved off the handlebar moustache he had been growing out since August of last year.

The St. Baldrick’s Foundation is the second largest donor in the United States in funding for pediatric research for cancer only the United States. It donates 97.3 percent of the funds it raises to researching a cure for children’s cancer while only 2.8 percent goes to administrative expenses.

I also participated in the event after seeing that my youth minister, Fr. Mac was doing it. I fundraised more than 300 dollars for the cause, with many of my teachers at VHS making generous contributions.

The Cedar Grove Elks has raised over $200,000 since it started participating in the event in 2007.