Blaise Clair was dealt as tough a hand as a young man can be dealt on the day he was dropped off to start his college career this past fall. Blaise was diagnosed with leukemia.

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The young man comes from a large family, who rallied around him during his treatment. While doctors believe they have the leukemia under control and in remission with Blaise set to begin his college career this September instead, his family wanted to find a way to give back.

Rallying around the theme of how they can give back, the family got linked up with St Baldrick's Foundation, which is one of the world's largest volunteer-based fundraising charities fighting childhood cancer. Blaise's aunt, Sheila Flemming, is one of the organizers of a fundraiser on June 10th at County Line Hardware in Jackson.

"St. Baldrick's mission is to conquer this childhood cancer by funding the most promising research," she said.

How St. Baldrick's works is fundraisers are held, where participants shave their heads in exchange for donations. Since 2000, the charity, which was started by a group of friends at an irish pub, has raised over $146 million. St. Baldrick's has held over 5,000 events, with more than 240,000 heads shaved.

Flemming says the goal is, "to raise money for research so that we can help these children. By having our heads shaved, that's how we stand in solidarity with them and that's what people will donate money for."

She said one of the draw of St. Baldrick's to her family was the amount of money that went to the cause.

"82 cents on every dollar goes to find a cure, 16 cents goes to fundraisers, and only 2 percent of it goes to administrative fees," she said.

The June 10th event begins at 2 PM at County Line Hardware in Jackson, which is located at 707 Bennetts Mills Road. Several staff and personalities from New Jersey 101.5 are set to be on head to have their heads shaved as part of the event, including Dennis Malloy.

"It's great that when you live in New Jersey, if you start something like this, everybody around you decides they are going to pitch in and help," said Flemming.

MORE GOOD NEWS

29th Annual Law Enforcement Torch Run

Beginning on June 8th, more than 3,000 law enforcement officers plan to participate in the 29th Annual Torch Run for Special Olympis New Jersey. The 26-leg journey will bring the Special Olympics New Jersey "Flame of Hope" a distance of more than 900 miles through the state to The College of New Jersey in Ewing where it will light the cauldron Friday evening and officially open the 2012 Special Olympics New Jersey Summer Games. As it makes it way through 300 New Jersey communities, the Torch Run plans to raise awareness and funds for Special Olympics New Jersey. To learn more, click here.

Keeping Kids Safe Project

The Keeping Kids Safe Project comes to Freehold on June 10th. The national child safety organization will host a free child safety fair to help educate children and their families on how to avoid dangerous situations. In addition, free FBI quality digital fingerprints for children will be offered, which is crucial in the recovery of missing children. The event will be held at Honda of Freehold from 11am to 5pm. To learn more, click here.

 

 

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