Pastor’s flock fellowships with shaved heads at St. Baldrick's event

Ever since St. Baldrick’s Foundation events began at H.B. Mattlin Middle School in Plainview, members of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Plainview have brought a team together to participate and raise awareness to children suffering from cancer.

“It’s been a great experience for the congregation and for my family personally,” explained the church’s pastor, Eric Olsen, standing beside his sons Luke, 12, and Lars, 8, after getting their heads shaved at the event on March 14.

Now in its fourth year, the Plainview-Old Bethpage Central School District event is an opportunity for the community to come together and raise money and awareness. 

The issue has touched the Olsens personally — affecting their family and spiritual family. “My wife’s little cousin died of leukemia,” explained Olsen. “She put up a valiant fight,” he said, reminiscing of 6-year-old Megan Lacey of Staten Island, who died in 1991. “She was an inspiration to us all.”

While working in New Hyde Park he developed a close relationship with Katie McBride, a New Hyde Park girl who died of leukemia in 2008 at age 11.

“She was a young girl who I took care of in many ways; she kind of took care of me, too,” Olsen said. “ ... But I am very close to her family and the Katie McBride Foundation, and they have a [benefit] run every year.”

The cause is one that tends to spur people into action, and David Fuggini’s case is no different.

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When Fuggini, now 15 and a freshman at Plainview-Old Bethpage John F. Kennedy High School, started having his head shaved at a different St. Baldrick’s event, he had no idea it would turn into a yearly ritual. But by the third time his then-school counselor, H.B. Mattlin Middle School’s David Goldberg, joined in and helped cement it as an annual commitment.

This year’s event marked a special milestone for Fuggini, who was bestowed the honor of Knight of the Bald of Table, a recognition reserved for seven-year participants.

“I believe that when you do good it comes back to you,” Fuggini said. “I think this is a great thing we do.”