Clipped for a cause at Planet Head Day
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Contributed photo
PLANET HEAD DAY — Barber Patrick Coughlin gives Planet Head Day organizer Kevin McCartney “more than a trim” at a recent event. The sixth annual event will be held on Saturday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Wieden Gymnasium on the UMPI campus.
By Jon Gulliver
PRESQUE ISLE — It’s not often barber Patrick Coughlin gets to shave 20 heads in one day, but that’s exactly what he did four years ago when he first volunteered at Planet Head Day at the University of Maine Presque Isle.
Coughlin will be back again this Saturday, clippers in hand, to get the participants ready for planet painting.
For those that don’t know, Planet Head Day celebrates space science while also serving as a major fundraiser for C-A-N-C-E-R (Caring Area Neighbors for Cancer Education and Recovery). To do this, participants raise money to have their heads shaved and painted as planets, dwarf planets and moons.
That’s where a barber or hairdresser comes in handy. Coughlin said he volunteers his time for a very personal reason.
“Not only is there a lot of cancer in the community,” he said, “I have a lot of cancer in my family, my father has leukemia and my grandfather had colon cancer. I feel I needed to step up and do something about it. If I couldn’t help out financially I can at least help out morally and by volunteering.”
He added that it’s a fairly quick process, even those with the locks of Samson, can have a nice clean-shaven dome in about 15 minutes. He says once a person decides to go bald they are usually in good spirits and don’t jump out of the chair once they hear the buzz of the clippers.
“Hair grows back fairly quickly and since they have the event in February you can wear a hat for a few months,” he chuckled.
Coughlin didn’t participate in the first Planet Head Day back in 2007, but since has been part of the team, which now includes another barber and two hairdressers. That has lessened his workload, but not his enthusiasm for the initiative.
“I think it is a great project,” he said. “I just wish we could get more people on board and make even more money.”
The event got its start when the staff of UMPI’s Northern Maine Museum of Science was looking for a way to celebrate the museum’s participation in the educational outreach for the New Horizons program, which launched a spacecraft scheduled to arrive at Pluto in 2015. At that time, the museum’s coordinator for educational outreach, Jeanie McGowan, was recovering from cancer chemotherapy. The staff decided that an event to improve both science education and cancer awareness was in order, and Planet Head Day was born.
Since then Planet Head Day has grown into a major fundraiser. Last year $15,000 was raised and this year event organizers are hoping to double that amount.
“We are looking for people who want to use their heads for some serious fundraising,” said Kevin McCartney, director of the Northern Maine Museum of Science and event coordinator.
Recent Planet Head Days have had about 65 heads, with half of these being shaved. Bald caps are available for those who are reluctant to part with their head of hair.
Planet heads have included community leaders, teachers, pastors, parents, and faculty and students from the university. About a third of the participants, including some of the shaved heads, have been children.
For more information about participating in the event, contact McCartney at 768-9482 or McGowan at 768-9747. Anyone wishing to help paint planets should contact McGowan.
Planet Head Day, which this year falls on Pluto’s birthday, will be held in UMPI’s Wieden Gymnasium from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. this Saturday, Feb. 18. There will be an assortment of space- and cancer-based displays and programs at the event, along with the usual barber chairs, free pizza and more.
For more information on the support group C-A-N-C-E-R and the services it provides visit the group’s website at www.c-a-n-c-e-r.com or call Sue Nickerson at 764-6826.
