Members of SMU’s Sigma Alpha Epsilon Fraternity shaved their heads to raise money for the St. Baldrick’s Foundation on Wednesday, April 2.

Starting as a challenge among friends, The St. Baldrick’s Foundation has developed into the world’s largest fundraising event for childhood cancer. St. Baldrick’s Foundation began in 2000 and has raised over $34 million for children’s cancer research and shaved over 46,000 heads.

Twenty-four SAE members pledged to shave their heads for children who lose their hair due to chemo therapy. SAE Philanthropy Chair Eric Fabacher said the fraternity raised over $42,000 for the St. Baldrick’s Foundation.

“A lot of members in our chapter and their families have been affected by cancer so we are happy to help the cause,” Fabacher said.

Fabacher, who organized the event, says that the members of SAE began working on the fundraiser a few months ago by writing letters to family, friends and various businesses asking them to pledge money for shaved heads. The amount of money SAE raised for St. Baldrick’s is one of the highest fundraising efforts in IFC history at SMU.

“We are really happy with how the event turned out,” Fabacher said. “For something that we decided to do just 10 weeks ago, we could not be happier with the results.”

This was the first year SAE hosted the event, but it hopes to continue the fundraiser in the future.

“Our hope is that the event continues to grow every year and eventually becomes an event where sororities help raise funds and other fraternities enter their own teams to shave their heads with us,” Fabacher said. “I think it could turn into a great event that the entire student body could get involved in.”

SAE had another charity event, “Chili Cook-off,” just four days prior to St. Baldrick’s Day. SAE was able to raise $50,000 for charity through both events, which is an SAE fundraising record according to the fraternity’s Vice President Chet Donnally.

“We are not only very pleased with our members and brotherhood, but are also pleased with the SMU community’s willingness to give their time and money to help charitable organizations,” Donnally said.

Other than the 24 SAE shavees, 11 other people from the Dallas area shaved their heads. All of the head shavings were done by licensed barbers in Texas.