Annual event is this Saturday at UMPI’s Wieden gym
PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — Community spirit will reach for the universe this Saturday, Feb. 20th as the 10th annual Planet Head Day gets underway.
The event, to be held Sataurday at the Wieden Hall gymnasium from 11 a.m.-2 p.m., is the largest yearly fundraiser for Caring Area Neighbors for Cancer Education and Recovery (C-A-N-C-E-R), a local volunteer organization dedicated to supporting cancer patients and their families.
Those who participate as “Planet Heads” raise funds by collecting pledges. Barbers, stylists and artists will be on hand to shave or cover heads with a “bald” cap and put their paintbrushes to work, creating planets and other celestial bodies. The bald heads represent solidarity with cancer patients who lose their hair during treatment.
Louise Cardone-Calabrese, C-A-N-C-E-R board member, is excited about the event and hopes it will not only raise funds, but will let those touched by cancer know they are not alone.
“It really is neighbors helping neighbors,” she said. “There are so many people that will be there that are survivors or that have someone in their own family going through something.”
She emphasized C-A-N-C-E-R is not affiliated with the American Cancer Society or any national organization. “We are local. Every penny stays right here in The County and benefits local patients.” In addition to financial help, C-A-N-C-E-R distributes monthly “Bread of Life” bags filled with baked goods, all given by volunteers, to patients.
Planet Head Day has become a thriving community event over the years. It got its start in 2007, when UMPI Professor of Geology Kevin McCartney wanted to highlight NASA’s New Horizons mission to Pluto, while at the same time supporting cancer patients including his colleague Jeanie McGowan, who was at the time going through cancer treatment. McCartney and McGowan devised the first event, and it has grown each year since.
“People just wanted to give. It was amazing,” Cardone-Calabrese said after last year’s Planet Head Day, when about 54 participants had their heads shaved and more than 100 others had their heads painted, raising more than $11,000.
This year, The Star-Herald has its own vested interest: Northeast Publishing employee Michael Gudreau will not only be the emcee for the festivities, but challenged his co-workers to donate $250 for him to have his head shaved. Within 24 hours of his challenge they were nearly there, and in three days had more than exceeded the goal.
“Andrew Hunt will be supporting him,” explained Cardone-Calabrese. “Andrew is a student at UMPI and will graduate in May. He will be there, and he and Michael will be sidekicks.”
She emphasized that, though the premise is serious, the event itself has a sense of lighthearted fun and involves all ages in the spirit of giving. “It is an event geared to the whole family,” Cardone-Calabrese said. “And then, of course, there’s all that wonderful head panting going on. It’s entertaining. And, if somebody would like to paint heads, just come and share the fun.”
Among the highlights this year, area town managers including Presque Isle’s Martin Puckett, Jon Frederick of Mapleton, Castle Hill and Chapman, Jim Risner of Fort Fairfield and David Cyr of Mars Hill, along with two local priests, Fr. Antony Alexander Maria Doss and Fr. Jean-Paul Labrie from the Parish of the Precious Blood, other community leaders and McCartney, will have their heads shaved and painted to represent all the planets in the solar system.
As in years past, the “Knotty Knitters” knitting circle will be on site to share hats they have made for those sacrificing their hair. “Their hats are gorgeous,” noted Cardone-Calabrese. “I have seen some of them. It’s really a beautiful gesture.”
She said Pizza Hut will again donate pizza to feed attendees, and bottled water has also been donated, as well as items for door prizes. Something different this year will be a special cake made for the occasion.
“Carole Soucy, who is the mother of Joanna Newlands, cancer survivor, will be baking our celebration cake. She wants to donate the cake, and she is also going to be making three dozen whoopie pies for us to sell to help raise funds.
“Peggy Gudreau has made up a whole batch of earrings to sell for us to raise funds,” Cardone-Calabrese continued. “She does this every year, and she gets her head shaved every year. She is also a survivor.”
Not to be left out of the fun — and the community service — are local schoolchildren. Cardone-Calabrese marvels at their generosity. “I tell them that they are already volunteers. They are neighbors helping neighbors.”
She said Mapleton Elementary School students collect items to be put into special gift bags for patients in treatment containing things may need when they travel, such as toiletries, stationery and pens. And in Washburn, the school has had a penny drive for C-A-N-C-E-R.
The total fund-raising goal for Planet Head Day 2016 is $25,000 — more than double what last year brought in.
“It costs a lot of money to drive to Bangor or Portland [for treatments], or to buy an air ticket and go back and forth,” Cardone Calabrese explained. “But every penny is more than we had before.”
For further information about Planet Head Day or C-A-N-C-E-R, call Cardone-Calabrese at 764-0766.
