As the community continues to support Gabriel Planas-Borgstrom, a 14-year-old Bordentown resident who was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma in September, the township’s police department held a “shave-off” event on Nov. 27 at Jimmy’s American Grill to raise funds for the family.
Setting aside their clean-shaven policy for the month of November, the police department began a “Growing for Gabe” initiative, which allowed participating officers to grow beards or goatees to help raise awareness and funding while to show support for Gabe’s cause.
As the department worked to garner donations from community members, the month-long effort culminated at Jimmy’s American Grill where family, friends and the community came out to watch Gabe shave several officials from the police department and raise money to help with the family’s medical and travel expenses.
Along with funds raised by the department for the evening’s event, Jimmy’s American Grill reported that 10 percent of total profits from the night would be donated to the Planas-Borgstrom family.
Before people in attendance at the event gathered on the restaurant’s outdoor patio area for the “shave-off,” Gabe took a moment to reflect on the significance of the event and what it meant to see everyone there in recognition of him.
“It’s really nice to see the whole community coming together for me. It’s touching – kind of crazy almost,” Gabe said. “It’s obviously something I thought I’d never have to experience or go through, but it’s nice to see that I have so much support from my community.
“It means a lot because when I first got diagnosed, I was almost kind of worried that people would start treating me differently, so it’s nice to see that nothing has really changed.”
As Gabe prepares to enter into the next stage of his treatment within the upcoming weeks, he described the feeling of what a community effort like this provided him with in one word: “Hope.”
“Even if not for me, there are a whole lot of reasons just in this world alone to keep fighting,” Gabe added.
With the crowd convened inside the restaurant, the township police department had tables set up by the main entrance to further help raise funds. As photograph portraits laid out upon envelopes of each participating officer, modeling their facial hair for the “Growing for Gabe” initiative, patrons were encouraged to donate one dollar per vote for the best and worst beard or mustache.
Once the attendees were gathered, they made their way out onto the patio area for the “shave-off” as Gabe didn’t hesitate with the clippers to trim officer Adam Edwards’ head clean as well as the police chief, Brian Pesce.
“When we heard about Gabe’s situation, it was just a natural fit,” Pesce said. “There were a lot of events going on around Bordentown, rallying around this family, so we really wanted to do something to participate.”
As friends, family and police officials gathered around Gabe to cheer him on throughout the shave-off, Pesce noted that the event not only showed how important it was for the Borentown people to come together, but what it meant to the police department as well.
“It makes me really happy to see everyone come out [for Gabe] like this,” Pesce said. “It’s nice to have a police department that connects with its community. It makes officers feels good about themselves and their jobs – that they can come here and give back in another way.”
Also standing alongside Gabe throughout the event was his most prominent supporter: his mother, Tara Planas-Borgstrom
Tara, who said she’s not only been a township resident her whole life, but also taught in the school district as well, remarked that seeing everyone in attendance at the event to support Gabe was representative of the Bordentown people.
“It shows love,” Tara said. “Going forward, [Gabe is] going to be going through the hardest part of his treatment in the next six weeks or so, so knowing that everyone is behind us and that everyone really cares – there’s going to be light at the end of it. There’s a place at the end that people are going to help us get through.
“As hard as it is – for our hardest days and for all the different things that we feel – [Gabe] never felt alone, so it helps a lot.”