Despite the cancellation of the in-person event, the Student Programming Board (SPB) hosted its annual St. Baldrick’s Day event via Instagram livestream at 9:30 p.m. on Monday, March 30.

“Under these circumstances we’ve really had to grow and adapt to what was thrown our way but it was such a great cause we knew cancelling it completely was not an option,” said SPB via Instagram direct messages. “Outreach online was our main priority and all though it wasn’t an in person success we are incredibly proud of our donors and shavees that dedicated their time and efforts to raise money during this crazy pandemic.”

Two Quinnipiac students, Emma Morales and Evan Bell, shaved their heads as the livestream’s audience sent positive messages of encouragement. The livestream had around 100 viewers over the course of the 45-minute stream.

“I knew if I didn’t follow through with this commitment I had made, not only to myself but to my friends and family too, it would be something I regretted for a long time,” said Morales, a second-year in the 3+3 health sciences/DPT program. “I think a fundamental part of how I define myself is my desire to see things through once I have my mind made up about it. Just because I wasn’t going to be on Burt Kahn anymore didn’t mean I couldn’t follow through.”

According to SPB’s St. Baldrick’s webpage, $2,800 was raised for pediatric cancer, with $1,337 of that raised by Morales. The event raised around $3,000 in 2019.

“I participate in events like this because of the impact these organizations and foundations make in millions of peoples’ lives,” Morales said. “St. Baldricks is an amazing foundation that dedicates the funds it raises to researching and helping childhood cases of cancer, and I can’t think of a worthier cause than helping kids.”

The St. Baldrick’s Foundation was founded in 1999 when Tim Kenny, John Bender and Enda McDonnell, three businessmen, decided to shave their heads as a way to raise money for childhood cancer. The first event happened the next year at Jim Brady’s Pub in Manhattan when the group shaved 19 heads and raised over $100,000. Since 2005, the St. Baldrick’s Foundation has raised over $282 million.

“St. Baldrick’s is significant to me because I, like many others, have been personally impacted by cancer,” Bell, a second-year student in the 3+3 health science/DPT program, said. “After losing my grandfather and other family members to cancer, I try to help fundraise for cancer research whenever I can. This event is significant to me because all the money fundraised is going towards children who have cancer. These children have their whole lives ahead of them and they deserve to be able to live their lives to the fullest extent, without cancer.”