To the shouts and cheers of students, Zion Lutheran School principal John Mayan got what might be his closest shave in years.
“I have two words,” he said, addressing the crowd gathered in the school’s gym Sept. 22. “Bald is beautiful.”
Mayan was one of two dozen people – many of them Grade 7 students who’d raised at least $100 each in donations – agreeing to lose their locks as part of Shave for the Brave.
Well, how did it feel to be bald?
“Colder,” said student Nicholas Houghton, moments after parting ways with his blond curls, thanks to mom Claire on razor duty.
He “just felt like doing it,” he added. “It would have felt wrong to just stay in the crowd.”
Aaron Neussler, a Grade 3 student who was diagnosed with cancer in August, was able to watch from BC Childrens’ Hospital via Skype.
Aaron’s Opa Hans Baarschers also went under the razor, thrusting his hands in the air in triumph after it was done, eliciting cheers from the crowd.
Two days before the event, Zion Lutheran Church secretary Linda Peters decided she would take the hair plunge, provided she raised $200 in donations.
“She raised $2,000,” her daughter Shannon said.
“It’s once in a lifetime,” Linda explained, adding the first two weeks after the shave were probably going to be the hardest in terms of adjustment.
Shave for the Brave was a school fundraiser in support of the Canadian Cancer Society’s Cops for Cancer Tour de Valley campaign, which visited Zion Lutheran School the next morning. Law enforcement officials and emergency services personnel ride to fight pediatric cancers.Follow the Cloverdale Reporter on 
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