Naperville Central Boys Volleyball player John McCormack is this week’s Off the Field spotlight, presented by Molly Maids of the Aurora Naperville Area.
How Did the Fundraiser Start?
“Well it initially started as a hair cut and it was just kind of cool to support it.”
John McCormack started shaving his head in fourth grade… like he said… for simple purposes of getting a haircut and supporting St. Baldrick’s. But now 7 years later, McCormack is still getting that haircut but now he runs the event at Naperville Central, “And then a couple years ago, I really got invested in fundraising and actually trying to make a difference rather than just the awareness…so the last couple of years I’ve been organizing it and making sure that it has good movement and good support throughout the school.”
What is St. Baldrick’s?
The St. Baldrick’s foundation raises money for childhood cancer research. Participants sign up, raise money, and then shave their head in support. For the second year in a row, Luxe Hair Salon in Naperville is the one doing the shaving explains stylist Anne Fisher, “The Owners went to central, so I think being in the Naperville location for as long as they have, we are really trying to be more involved in the community and stuff like that.”
McCormack is also involved in athletics Naperville Central, playing Volleyball. And his team has shown him major support over the years as the event has gotten more popular.
“You can create teams through the event and so I’ve been using Naperville Central Volleyball team for the last couple years and so we’ve had different players sign up and raised money and you can just show how much of a team you’ve done as a program as a goal, not just on the court but off the court as well,” McCormack explains.
The Amount of Money Raised
The school as a whole raised almost $13,000 for the event with multiple people raising over one thousand and one student raising over 2,000 which is an impressive amount of money for any high-schooler to raise.
Fisher comments on the amount of money raised, “That’s impressive considering that’s coming from just this school, ya know, not the next high school, college, ya know just people in general so I mean, it’s cool.”
McCormack adds,“It makes me feel pretty good because it leaves me knowing that even after I leave Naperville Central we’ll still have a community here that’s going to keep moving forward and keeping the fundraising going for conquering child cancer.”
An event that started 7 years ago with a buzz… but certainly has made more noise than that at Naperville Central. To check out the fundraising page for Naperville Central and John McCormack, click here.
You can also check out other Off the Field stories in our Sports Specials!
