According to the 2010 American Cancer Society report, the probability of developing cancer in your lifetime in the United States is 44% for men and 38% for women.  Basically, if you are sitting around a table with your friends eating out in a restaurant or maybe playing Magic: The Gathering (admit it…you used to play and it might be fun just once as long as no one else found out), 2 out of 5 of you will develop cancer.

Those are some scary numbers.

And how many of us have seen family and friends battling cancer of one form or another?  We’ve all been affected, and we all want to see the end of cancer.  Cancer sucks and we hate it.

Well, February 4^th is World Cancer Day and another opportunity for all of us to show our support for the fight against cancer.  World Cancer Day was started by The International Union Against Cancer (UICC) in 2005 in response to the Charter of Paris in 2000.

The World Cancer Day campaign emphasizes that 40% of cancers can be prevented through healthy behaviors such as smoke-free environments, remaining physically active, eating a healthy diet, and avoiding sun over-exposure.

So, to show how much you hate cancer on World Cancer Day, eat something healthy, tell your friends to wear sunscreen, put down your cigarette, and go run around the block.  Find some way to spread the message today, and if you have a few spare dollars go ahead and donate to one of the many organizations raising money for the fight.

Info sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Cancer_Day
http://www.cancer.org/AboutUs/DrLensBlog/post/2010/07/07/The-2010-Statistics-Are-Out-And-767000-People-Have-Celebrated-More-Birthdays.aspx

So It’s been a week and the hair is starting to grow back, faster than I thought at least. In the mean time we are busy, planning our calendar and can’t wait to share the details.

Before I can get to the lineup of events I thought I’d share some things with you; mainly our mission. First, we cannot thank everyone enough for the great support we’ve received and all the generosity of all our supporters and sponsors. Right, our mission we just want to raise awareness of how much cancer affects us all.

Our lovely bartender Lauryn Eby said it best. You can hear about it and see it but it is a meaningless word until it affects one of us or someone we love. There are still too many deaths that we have every year due to cancer. There is not just one type either there are just as many types as there are people.

An old and very good friend of mine lost her dad to Pancreatic Cancer. She ran on a platform for Mrs. Oklahoma to raise more awareness. An old boss whom I loved working for had a bout with breast cancer. His story can be found in his book. These are the old stories, there are many more survivors that keep going around us everyday. We are all grateful to have them in our lives; what would it be without them?

So raise a glass and keep the good fight going. We’ll see you soon!

(Side note: I didn’t forget to tell you about the events rather that will be another post we’re doing this as fast as we can but we want to get it right so everyone has some fun.)

So Shave Dallas was a success. We had such a great turn out for our first event and even manged to exceed our goal! I can’t throw a big enough thank you out there to everyone who made it all possible, but I’m gonna try.

First off, thank you to everyone that came out to the benefit and made a donation.  It’s because of you that we made our goal.

Thank you to all of our raffle prize sponsors and artists (Christi Nielsen, Kevin Todora, Nate Glaspie, Brent Ozeta, Willie Baronet and Ruben Nieto) that donated work for the auction. All of your contributions helped to make Shave what it is.

Thank you to  Iris Leu and Companion for your awesome performances. You really entertained everyone at the event.

Thank you to Mystic Kathryn and Eric for your palm reading. You kept one heck of a line going all night.

Thank you to all of the volunteers that came and helped. We couldn’t have run the event without all of you.

Thank you to Mark Ramsey and the rest of the crew at Masterpiece of Hollywood for the loan of the Barber Chair. The shaving of the heads wouldn’t have gone as smoothly w/out it.

Thank you to the crew from Abbey Road Salon. It was due to your generous time and effort that we had so many bald heads, mine included. LOL

Thank you to the Bomb Factory Post Production House, and especially Katherine Walker for hooking me up with the location. I owe you big-time girl. =)

Thank you to Kern Brouillard for taking care of the audio. You saved us big-time homie.

And last, but not least, my biggest thanks goes out to my support team, and soon to be Board of Directors:  Adam Lotia, Amelia Clark and Shelby Cunningham. You three have been helping and keeping me on track since the beginning. Couldn’t have done it without you. Thank you so much.

From here on out, we’re only going to grow and continue our fight against cancer. I hope that all of you will continue to stay with us on this journey.

From 7p.m. – 11p.m., people will be shaving their heads for cancer at 3900 Willow St, Dallas, TX, 75226.

Please come out to enjoy the music and the event, and possibly donate through the raffle, art auction, or sponsoring the folks shaving.  If you’re shaving your head, be sure to read this.

Music, art, and bald people! Don’t miss it!

If you have to miss it, but would still like to help, you can go to the American Cancer Society donation page that Kyle set up by clicking on the big “Donate Now!” link.

Well we’re less than 24-hours away from the Launch of Shave Dallas. I really look forward to seeing everyone that is coming out tomorrow night and I know those that can’t will be there in spirit. Remember that the event starts at 7 and goes to 11.
Just a few last minute things. First off, the location the event is called the Bomb Factory Production House which is near Fair Park, not the location of the old club “The Bomb Factory”. So anyone thinking that’s where your suppose to go….”DON”T!” LOL  I know some have been confused about that, but I want to make sure that you don’t get lost. The address is 3900 Willow St, Dallas, TX, 75226. Just throw it into Google Maps and you’ll be fine.
Also, those of you who will be shaving your head’s, be sure to have your hair washed and have no  product in it. We won’t have a washing bay to wet down your hair (aside from a spray bottle) and we want to make sure that aren’t any accidents.
Well with that said, I’m going to say that I am totally psyched about tomorrow night and hope everyone else is too.

See you all at 7:00!

Hey Guys,

I’ve been in touch with a few of you, but for anyone else that is still interested in helping out with Shave Dallas, we are having a volunteer meeting tomorrow night. We’ll be meeting at the Starbucks at the intersection of Renner and Custer in Richardson at 7p.m. The address is: W Renner Rd, Richardson, TX 75080. If you can’t make the meeting, but still want to help, e-mail me at kyle@shavedallas.org.

Look forward to see you all tomorrow night.

Bids will start low, so bring your money and grab up some great art! 100% of the money made from the art auction will go to the American Cancer Society.

Christi Nielsen
Time Marches On
16″x20″
Lambda print face-mounted to plexi

Nate Glaspie
Roof Rd
6″x11″
Hardware, household paint, plexiglass, plywood

Shelby Cunningham
Pair of Bunnies
9″x9″
Inkjet print on watercolor paper, fleece, thread

Ruben Nieto
8″x10″

(sorry for the glare on the glass!)

Kevin Todora
16″x20″
Mixed Media: spray paint, paper

We’ve gotten a lot of cool prizes for the raffle and I want to give a big shout-out and thanks to all of our Prize Sponsors.

ClubCorp

The Loft

Hacienda On Henderson

Dallas Rocks

Soap Hope

Mercantile Coffeehouse

A very big “THANK YOU” to all of you for your contributions to Shave Dallas!

So Shave Dallas is only a fledgling when it comes to cancer groups, but one of the things we want to do is try to get the word out there about other organizations working to help with the fight against cancer. One group at the top of my list right now is the Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation. The foundation’s goal is fighting childhood cancer.

It was started by Alexandra Scott, a little girl who by her first birthday was diagnosed with neuroblastoma, a type of childhood cancer. As she grew older, Alex told her parents she wanted to start a lemonade stand to raise money to help the doctors with their research so that they could “help other kids, like they helped me.” The first year of her Lemonade Stand, she ended up raising $2000.

Unfortunately in 2004, Alex passed away, but not before raising over $1, 000, 000 for cancer research due to others opening their own lemonade stands. Though Alex may be gone, and in a better place, her memory and work still live on through the foundation. Please take the time to check out the site. These people really are doing amazing work.

WHEN – Saturday, July 31st  7p.m.- 11p.m.

WHERE – The Bomb Factory Production House which is at 3900 Willow St, Dallas, TX, 75226 (map)

GOAL – to bankroll as much money as we can for the American Cancer Society!  Visit the direct donation page here.

How is that going to happen? – The idea is for those of you who are brave enough to get money from (and then give to the American Cancer Society) your friends, families, coworkers and any strangers you meet between now and then to shave all your beautiful hair off.  YOU DO NOT HAVE TO SHAVE YOUR HEAD TO HELP US (though, you’d be a lot cooler if you did). Just show up and help make our first year amazing! Go here if you want to find out other ways you can help.

MUSIC: Iris Leu and Companion

List of artist coming soon!

We’ve got music, we’ve got art, we’ve got bald people!