WHAT began as a friendly bet among friends in 1999 soon skyrocketed to become the largest volunteer driven cancer fundraising events organization in the world called the St. Baldrick's Foundation. It was on a golf course that St. Baldrick's (bald and Patrick fused together) was created. According to the director of media relations for the St. Baldrick's Foundation, Joseph Kelly of Dublin, three friends, Tim Kenny, John Bender and Enda McDonnell had just finished up a game of golf and were reflecting on how well they had prospered from life in the U.S.Kenny glanced over at McDonnell's mop of hair and a thought struck him. Kenny said to his friend that people would pay money to see him shave off his hair. McDonnell responded, "If you do it I'll do it," said Kelly from the St. Baldrick's headquarters in Pasadena, California recently. A few weeks later, the trio, all reinsurance agents in New York at the time, came together at a work event at Jim Brady's bar on the Lower East Side. The businessmen flipped the event into a fundraising night for children with cancer. Several heads were shaved and the St. Baldrick's Foundation was officially off the ground. "Their goal was to get 17 people to raise $17,000 on March 17," said Kelly. "In the end, 20 people shaved their heads and $100,000 was raised." While none of the founders had a connection with childhood cancer, they were moved by this particular cause. That year the money raised by the charity went to the National Childhood Cancer Foundation. The foundation has a network of over 230 hospitals and researchers working together collaboratively. "The great advantage of them working together is that we never know where a cure will be found for a type of cancer so having a network of researchers all working together increases the likelihood of finding a cure at a faster pace," explains Kelly. Since it's inception, the St. Baldrick's Foundation has raised over $34 million, while 46,000 heads have been shaved at over 1,200 events across 46 states and 18 countries. As St. Baldrick's has grown the organization has been awarded direct research grants to specific hospitals and researches throughout the U.S."We now have 13 St. Baldrick's pediatrics oncology fellows at various hospitals throughout the nation. As we have grown we have also found new ways to distribute funds," said Kelly.Although, most of the money has been primarily raised from various head shaving events, the foundation has had instances where someone will come up with something to be auctioned off.It's not just adults that are shaving their hair off. Kids as young as elementary school ages have allowed their heads to be shaven for this worthy cause. "We even had entire classes who will do it to raise money for childhood cancer," Kelly said. Why did the Irish men (Kelly is from Kerry, McDonnell from Mayo and Bender is Irish American) choose head shaving as a means to raise money for cancer research? "Head shaving is a symbolism of standing in solidarity with the children who have lost their hair through cancer treatment," Kelly says.This year the organization has raised the bar. "We have a very ambitious goal but we are pretty sure we can make it," Kelly said. They plan to raise $17 million, with 25,000 shaving at 600 events through the year. March is the busiest month for the foundation with hundreds of events taking place throughout the nation, including numerous head-shaving fundraisers in New York. However, Kelly said that although March is their primary fundraising event, as the foundation has sprouted so has the calendar of events. "We have had events since January and we have lots of fundraisers going on till September," he says.For more information on St. Baldrick's Foundation or to find an event in your locality log onto http://www. stbaldricks.org.