Braving the shave for a cause
More than 140 employees at Basin Electric shaved their heads to raise money. A number of employees went bald today. A few more donated long strands of hair to locks of love. What united them all was a desire to help others.
Basin Electric Power Cooperative
- March 16, 2009
originally broadcast on KFYR TV
Click on this link to watch the video: Braving the shave for a cause
More than 140 employees at Basin Electric shaved their heads to raise money. A number of employees went bald today. A few more donated long strands of hair to locks of love. What united them all was a desire to help others.
For Donald Franklund and his daughter Ellie, this day was a long time coming.
"Getting my hair cut wasn't what concerned me, it was everything else that goes with it," says Donald. "Sunshine, cold, sunburn won't be good right now."
He auctioned off the rights to shave his head, those rights went for $1,200. "I'm a parent and when my kids are sick it makes me feel bad," Donald says. "I can't even imagine what it must be like for some of these parents whose children have cancer."
His daughter by his side, he lost the hairs that have been with him for life, except for a few that had already left on their own.
"I think it's a great family thing, I just feel wonderful about that," Donald says.
How did his 12-year-old daughter feel about it? "Embarrassed," Ellie says.
Ellie said she had planned on cutting her hair last year, but decided it wasn't long enough.
"Surprisingly, it doesn't feel much different but when I feel my hair it feels really weird," Ellie says. "So suddenly when I have this much off it's like, my head is light."
While most of the shavees were employees or family, a few heads stood out above the rest.
"Just seeing kids and seeing people go through that, what cancer does, with cancer, it`s heart touching to me," says Renaldo Major, a player on the Dakota Wizards. "It hurts me to see that so anything I can do to help, shaving my head bald, giving a few dollars to help the kids with cancer, whatever I can do, I`d love to do that."
As the hair kept falling, those dollars kept pouring in. As of noon today, Basin said it had brought in more than $80,000. More was pouring in all afternoon, and they hope to have raised $100,000 when everything is counted.
Headquarters
1717 East Interstate Avenue
Bismarck, ND 58503-0564 USA
Phone: 701.223.0441
Basin Electric Power Cooperative will provide cost-effective wholesale energy along with products and services that support and unite rural America.
