Charlotte Luckey hopped up onto the barber’s chair, squeezed her eyes shut and waited for the hair stylist to work her magic Saturday morning.
By Lea Kahn, Staff Writer
Charlotte Luckey hopped up onto the barber’s chair, squeezed her eyes shut and waited for the hair stylist to work her magic Saturday morning.
Only this time, the magic was not taking a few snips here and a few snips there to stylize Charlotte’s hair. It was more like a buzz cut — the type of haircut that military recruits get.
But that didn’t faze Charlotte one bit. She was actually looking forward to it, because it meant she was raising money for the St. Baldrick’s Foundation, a nonprofit organization that funds research to cure childhood cancer.
Less than 4 percent of all federally funded cancer research is spent on childhood cancer research, even though childhood cancer kills more children than AIDS, asthma, cystic fibrosis, congenital anomalies and diabetes combined every year, according to the foundation’s website.
Meanwhile, 8-year-old Charlotte, who goes to the Ben Franklin Elementary School, was one of 200 “shavees” at the seventh annual fundraiser for the St. Baldrick’s Foundation. As it has been for the past six years, the event was held at Amalfi’s Cuisine on the Lawrenceville-Pennington Road.
”I like short hair. It feels good,” Charlotte said, as she rubbed her hand across the stubble, which was all that was left of her shoulder-length hair. It was her first haircut in more than six months.
Charlotte’s mom, Kate Luckey, said her daughter remembered how much fun she had and how much money she raised last year, which was the first time she had taken part in the St. Baldrick’s Foundation fundraiser.
Charlotte was inspired to participate last year because her friend was doing it to show that girls are not afraid of the barber’s electric razor. But this year, Charlotte struck out on her own. Her friend did not sign up for a repeat performance.
While Charlotte and the other shavees waited their turn, Ben Franklin School principal Chris Turnbull — who was the master of ceremonies for the day-long event — kept up a patter of fun facts about St. Patrick’s Day and even some “insane” facts about hair color.
”One estimate suggests that there are about 10,000 regular three-leaf clovers for every lucky four-leaf clover,” Mr. Turnbull said. “Legend says that each leaf of the clover means something. The first is for hope, the second for faith, the third for love, and the fourth for luck.”
The rarest hair color is red, and it is only found in 1 percent of the world’s population. And although St. Patrick’s Day is all about being Irish, the highest proportion of redheads in the world is in Scotland — 13 percent of the Scottish population has red hair.
Then, it was Mason Meyerson’s turn to sit in the barber’s chair. In a very short time, all that was left of the Lawrenceville Elementary School student’s long hair — which he spent a year growing out and that he “really liked” — was some brown stubble.
Mason is a veteran shavee and took part in 2012 and 2013. Both of his grandmothers died of cancer, and the disease runs in his mother’s family. But Mason was on the fence about taking part for a third straight year, said his mother, Chelsi Meyerson.
”I told him that if he didn’t want to do it again, he didn’t have to,” Ms. Meyerson said. But Mason said Saturday morning that he was going to have his hair shaved off so that he could raise money “for children with cancer.”
And raise money they did at Amalfi’s Cuisine on a chilly day. By the end of the day, the event raised nearly $127,000 — more than the goal of $75,000. The total is expected to grow as pledges and donations continue to come in, event organizers said.
The Lawrence Intermediate School and the Ben Franklin Elementary School teams — whose principals, Dave Adam and Chris Turnbull, joined in the head-shaving fun — raised $19,097 and $12,650, respectively. The Lawrenceville Elementary School team raised $12,222. Those were the three top fundraising teams.
Jackson Schwartz, whose mother teaches at Lawrence Intermediate School, had the privilege of helping to shave Mr. Adam’s hair. The 8-year-old was diagnosed with leukemia three years ago and although he has been declared cancer-free, he is still undergoing chemotherapy.
Shaving Mr. Adam’s hair was a way for Jackson to be involved in the St. Baldrick’s Foundation fundraiser, said his mother, Kristin Schwartz. He was a special guest at the event, she said, noting that people turned out to support him.
”To see other children go bald for children like him and to raise money for childhood cancer research (is meaningful),” Ms. Schwartz said.
Although Jackson’s hair has grown back, it was hard for him when he lost his hair because of the chemotherapy, she said.

