News
MARLBORO FACULTY, STAFF SHAVE DOWN IN THE NAME OF CHARITY
MARLBORO, VT – You have to pay a woman to shave her legs at Marlboro. And legs, heads, faces, and maybe even armpits that haven’t seen the blade of a razor or shears in years will do just that as Marlboro faculty and staff shave down to support a student project.
Members of the Marlboro community have agreed to shave and/or cut off the hair they have held onto for years now to raise money for sophomore Noah Levinson’s work with the street children of India. The quirky fundraiser, pegged “Hair to Help” involves the promise of various staffers and faculty members to publicly shave everything from their heads to legs if they are able to collect enough pledge money to do so. For some, $25 will be enough to trim up. For others, like Director of Psychological Services Nancy Pike, who has promised to shave her head, it will take more.
Levinson has spent the past two years traveling around the
streets of India and offering medical services to its street
children. He has started up a mobile health clinic that brings
medical supplies to children who would otherwise not have
them and has raised more than $30,000 toward the project.
He has hired a doctor and a nurse and bought a vehicle and
medical supplies with that money. The mobile health clinic
provides medical treatment to about 650 street children outside
of Calcutta. It provides monthly checkups, medicines, surgery,
substance abuse treatment, and braces for the handicapped.
Those involved in Hair to Help say they will miss their locks,
but that it’s all in the name of a good cause.
"Given the current world turmoil, I could think of no better reason to shave my head than to raise money for a project started by a Jewish young man, and Arab young man, working with Catholic Charities to provide medical assistance to Hindi and Muslim street children. For me, Noah's project is like a light in the midst of darkness. I want to fan that kind flame and add to the light,” Pike said.
And of the efforts the college community has put into his project Noah said, “I am deeply moved and touched that the Marlboro community is coming together to support this initiative for street children in Calcutta. It would have been enough for the Marlboro community to allow me to integrate my work in Calcutta with my studies, but no, they are doing more.”
The public shaving is set to take place on April 23 at 1:30 p.m. in the dining hall should the group of staffers and faculty be able to raise their individual pledge amounts.
