Updated 02/25/2010 06:10 AM
Friends use SU game to raise money for research
The pressure is on the Syracuse University men's basketball team as they take on Villanova this weekend. And now they have an additional reason to play at the top of their game. An East Syracuse man and his friends are using the game as a way to raise money for childhood cancer. Our Allison Lazarz tells us how SU's success will benefit a good cause.
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EAST SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- If you haven't seen Josh Shear in a few months, you'd notice how big his beard's gotten. Since October, he's been growing it out, only to get it shaved off next month at a St. Baldrick's Foundation event to raise money for childhood cancer.
"People get donations, usually they get their head shaved. Nobody's giving me money for my head, so I decided to grow a beard," said Shear of East Syracuse.
And he's not stopping there. Shear and some friends are using the web-world in combination with this weekend's SU-Villanova basketball game to try to raise even more money.
"I've become involved in the Syracuse Twitter community, so it was nice that they kind of picked up the ball and ran with it as well," said Shear.
And the more SU picks up the ball and runs with it, the better.
Shear's friends came up with a donation list for different actions the team can perform, like $5 for each slam dunk or three-pointer. Anyone who wants to donate based on the outcome of the game can help Shear raise money for the St. Baldrick's Foundation's research efforts.
"There's absolutely no reason that children should be dying of cancer. Or adults, for that matter, but if we can start young, it's a smaller population of people affected. If we can eradicate that we can move upwards and eradicate cancer period," said Shear.
The final fundraising push is on, because the St. Baldrick's event is March 31st at Kitty Hoynes in Syracuse.
To learn more about the St. Baldrick's Foundation you can visit Shear's St. Baldrick's participant page at http://www.stbaldricks.org/participants/joshshear.
And to donate money based on the outcome of the SU-Villanova game, visit http://tracytilly14.wordpress.com/2010/02/22/childhood-cancer-shut-it-down.