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Schools

St. Joe's Students Raise $1,300 For Cancer

Eighth grade teacher David Roman made good on his promise to shave his head if the students met their fundraising goal of $500 to Ann's Place, a cancer support services agency based in Danbury.

Believe it or not, the loudest gym in Connecticut wasn’t at a postseason basketball game or even a state wrestling tournament. 

No, that honor is going to go to the kids of St. Joseph’s School on Main St., who packed their gymnasium Wednesday to watch eighth grade teacher David Roman shave his head.  Roman is also the youth minister at St. Joe’s.

“The eighth-graders and I like to come up with different service projects as a class, and the kids and I were talking about what we can do to really make an impact,” Roman said while getting his haircut.  “We said, ‘Well, why not, let’s fundraise for cancer.’  And I said that if we raised $500, I’d shave my head bald.”

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The students at St Joe’s responded by raising more than double their goal, donating $1300 to Ann’s Place, a Danbury-based cancer support services agency.

“I guess they really wanted me to shave my head,” Roman laughed.  “The energy’s really intense here.”

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It certainly was. Chants of “Shave his head!” encouraged first-time barber Principal Lisa Lanni, who was dressed in a Cat-in-the-Hat costume and administered most of Roman’s haircut.

“Today is Dr. Seuss’ birthday,” Lanni explained.  “My younger grades celebrate it, so I was fortunate enough to get my hands on a costume and go around and visit them each year.”

She went on to praise her students for their dedication and drive throughout the duration of the fundraiser.

“Truly, I could not be prouder of them,” she said.  “Not only for their generosity of money, but just the excitement and the attitude they took right from the get-go.  It was just a touching experience to see all of them come out of their own comfort zone to help somebody else.   And of course the incentive of him shaving his head just added to the excitement, and that just builds such camaraderie and team spirit throughout the school as well.  So as much as Ann’s Place benefited from it, we benefited from it just as well.”

Ann’s Place Director of Operations Tricia Guiry further explained how the fundraiser became a great success.

“I went in to talk to his class specifically the first week we decided to do this, to tell them about what we do at Ann’s Place, the patients we help with cancer, and how we need the funds to help these kids, because at Ann’s Place, we don’t charge anybody – we do everything by fundraising and donations,” Guiry said.  “The kids then had to go to each class and tell each class what their community service project was and that it was for Ann’s Place.  So they had to go educate all the little kids to tell them that they had to go get some money.”

The eighth-graders succeeded in their effort to inspire the younger students.  Roman said that one group in particular stood out in his memory.

“Our second graders raised $20,” he said.  “They saved all their bottles, recycled them, and made 20 bucks.  They were so excited to present it to me.  The kids really took this as their own project.”

Roman’s own class was permitted to sit on the stage to witness the event up close and personal. 

“It was really sweet of him to do,” said eighth-grader Michelle Leppla.  “He was really psyched about it from the beginning.”

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