Dear Friends and Family, As many of you know, I have had quite a wide variety of hair styles, ranging from relatively normal to bizarre and weird. My current hair style is closer to the normal side of things, but is about to become more bizarre; On March 19th I will be shaving my head for the St. Baldrick’s Foundation. For those of you who don’t know, St. Baldrick’s is a charity organization committed to finding a cure for childhood cancer. The money raised by St. Baldrick’s events goes to research projects aimed at finding and cure and since 2000, they have raised over $118 million. The main fundraising for St. Baldrick’s take place at head shaving events, where volunteers, sponsored by their friends and family, shave their heads as a show of solidarity for children who may loose their hair during cancer treatment. I have thought of participating in a St. Baldrick’s shaving event before, but never knew of one that was happening in my area. Then a few weeks ago, I began getting to know a wonderful 10-year-old from my church through a program called Mystery Friends. In the program we exchange letters each week, and I know who she is, however she does not know my identity. On March 5th my identity will be revealed. My Mystery Friend is shaving her head for the St. Baldrick’s fundraiser. I am so incredibly proud of her courage and compassion that I decided to shave my head, too! Shaving my head as a show of solidarity for children with cancer is great, however finding a cure is even better. Finding a cure means doing more research and doing more research takes money. I recognize that the economy is not so great at the moment, and that many of you are recent college grads with small incomes, but any amount will help. As Margaret Mead said, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” Thank you for support. Love and light, AVP