Blackwood community raises awareness for childhood cancer

BLACKWOOD, N.J. (CBS) -- The community of Blackwood came out to raise awareness for childhood cancer Sunday. 

As hair fell on the ground outside of Sam's Bar and Grille in Blackwood, the crowd cheered as one by one, people of all ages decided to shave their heads in honor of children battling cancer.  

Hope Lichtenstein was one of the first of 20 volunteers to go under the clippers for St. Baldrick's Foundation's event.  

"I grew out my hair out to donate it for like that last two to three years and I knew I wanted to donate the most, so I had to cut it the shortest I could," Lichtenstein said. 

Event organizer Debbie Simone says the foundation is the largest charitable non-government funder of childhood cancer research grants in the world. 

They also provide emotional support for families like that of Nico Cassabria's. He was a Camden County boy who passed away in 2017 after he lost his battle with neuroblastoma. 

"The purpose of shaving heads is when the kids go through treatment and they lose their hair, you look the same as they do," Simone said. 

Organizers say this was their first in-person event since the pandemic in the area. They're hoping to raise $50,000.

While the shaving continued outside, inside people were donating and entering raffles.  

"Those funds are all specifically used for research," Simone said. 

"I tried to remember it's for the kids, it's for a good cause," Lichtenstein said.  

Lichtenstein is also donating to another charity. Around 20 inches of her hair now fits in a plastic bag and will soon be turned into a wig.  

"It's going to children with hair loss. They donate the wigs. They don't charge the children. It takes about 1,500 dollars to make one wig," Lichtenstein said. 

All of this, an effort that Lichtenstein and others hope will help change and save more young lives. 

In:
• Camden County
• Blackwood NJ
• New Jersey
• Cancer