Feb 21, 2008
Wilton teens create T-shirts, will shave heads for cancer charity
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They’re only juniors in high school, but they’ll be bald in March.
Sixteen Wilton High School students who call themselves Brent’s Warriors will shave their heads on March 13, raising money for St. Baldrick’s Foundation, a volunteer-based organization benefiting childhood cancer. St. Baldrick’s was founded in 1999.
The event will take place at 5 p.m. at The Bear & Grill in Fairfield, located at 2000 Black Rock Turnpike.
“We shave our heads in honor of a boy named Brent McCreesh, who was diagnosed with cancer when he was two-and-a-half,” said Reed Dempsey, a member of Brent’s Warriors.
Wiltonians may choose to donate money to St. Baldrick’s “on the heads” of members of Brent’s Warriors.
“Once you shave your head, the kids who have cancer don’t feel so out of place anymore,” said Ryan Boepple.
In September 2004, Brent, of Southport, was diagnosed with stage IV neuroblastoma, the most prevalent extracranial tumor found in infants. According to his page on St. Baldrick’s Web site, Brent endured six rounds of chemotherapy, two stem cell transplants and three weeks of radiation.
Brent, now 5, has been cancer-free for the last 32 months.
“The McCreeshes couldn’t have made it through Brent’s treatment without their incredible friends and family and the community. When treatment ended, all those people still wanted to fight the disease — so TeamBrent was formed,” the Web site says.
The McCreesh family is seeking to raise $300,000 this year.
“We piggybacked off their idea and became a subgroup,” Reed said, adding the money they raise will be donated to St. Baldrick’s through TeamBrent.
Last year, Brent’s Warriors were able to raise $72,310 for St. Baldrick’s, Reed said. A good chunk of that money, $30,000, was raised in one day when George Davala, whose son Drew was a part of Brent’s Warriors, shaved his mustache at work.
“We don’t have them this year; Drew now goes to private school,” Ryan said.
Still, Brent’s Warriors have their eyes set on raising another $50,000 this year.
“Last year, the fund raising came really easy because it was the first time people donated to this cause,” Ryan said. “This year will be harder because people donated last year.”
“We knew we needed to do something big this year” to raise that much money, Reed said.
Ryan came up with the idea of selling Wilton-pride T-shirts for $15 apiece. The shirts say “The Good,” paired with the Wilton Warriors’ logo, “The Bad,” paired with the Darien Blue Wave’s logo and “The Ugly,” paired with the Ridgefield Tigers’ logo.
“I’d seen the idea on a college football shirt and went to a Web site to design the shirts,” Ryan said.
The group had no idea how the shirts would come out or how students would respond to them, so they ordered 70 shirts the first time around in November. Impressed by the quality of the printing on the shirts and the high demand, the group ordered an additional 150 T-shirts in January.
“We’d sold all the shirts in the first week,” Reed said.
Ryan said that since the shirt is a rivalry shirt, it has the added bonus of uniting Wilton’s students on top of the fact the money raised gets donated to St. Baldrick’s.
“We’ve made $1,400 from the shirts so far,” Ryan said, adding more are for sale by contacting warriors@brentswarriors.org.
The team also held a raffle drawing in front of the Village Market, selling autographed pictures of such sports stars as David Ortiz, Tom Brady, Joe Namath, John Elway, and Roger Clemens, he said.
John Wiseman, a friend of the McCreesh family who lives in Wilton and was Reed and Ryan’s former lacrosse coach, challenged Reed to join him in shaving his head in March 2006. That year, Reed raised $2,000 while Mr. Wiseman raised $23,500.
After that event, Reed decided to form Brent’s Warriors, naming the team after the high school’s mascot and aiming to create a group of athletes who would help raise funds each year.
“I’m linked to no one directly by cancer, but I kind of feel like it’s an important thing to help the greater good,” Reed said. “Why not give up my hair for three weeks if I can help save someone in the future?”
Brent’s Warriors also has a few other ways to raise money.
On March 13, Blue Tulip, located on River Road, will donate 15% of the proceeds from its sales to St. Baldrick’s on behalf of Brent’s Warriors, provided the customer mentions the cause.
Andy Pforzheimer, whose son Tucker is also a member of Brent’s Warriors, owns Barcelona, a restaurant that has five locations in South Norwalk, Fairfield, West Hartford, New Haven, and Greenwich. Mr. Pforzheimer has agreed to donate the profits from March 13 to St. Baldrick’s in the Brent’s Warriors name, Reed said.
Reed, a member of the Key Club at Wilton High School, has gotten his club behind the Brent’s Warriors cause. Each year, the club has a citrus sale and it donates the proceeds to a charity. This year, he asked the group to consider supporting Brent’s Warriors.
“It overwhelmingly passed,” he said, adding the Wilton Kiwanis Club agreed to match however much money the Key Club raises through the sale.
“We live in such a wealthy town; if we put our minds together and get organized, we can raise a ton of money,” Reed said.
In addition to Tucker, Ryan and Reed, other Brent’s Warriors members include Charlie Cornbrooks, Sam Fuentes, Will Herndon, Chris Huber, Jake Alexander, Kevin Simon, Vinnie Cannon, Drew Farrell, James Fuller, Joe LaSala, Matt Dempsey, Brian Murphy, and Josh Witkin.
Information: brentswarriors.org, stbaldricks.org, 888-899-BALD.
© Copyright 2008 by Hersam Acorn Newspapers
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