This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Community Corner

LWA Teacher Takes Part in Hairy Fundraiser

Mustaches for Kids host a 'Stache Bash' in Long Beach to raise funds, awareness and a pint or three for ill children.

When it comes to charitable giving, it's not the size of a man's heart that counts — it's the size of his mustache.

At least that was the mantra last Saturday night at in Long Beach, where dozens of supporters and participants gathered for the annual Mustaches for Kids charity "Mustache Bash" to benefit the Sloan Kettering Memorial Pediatric Cancer Care Fund.

The goofy and brilliant fundraising project is the brainchild of Bill Kupferman, an organizer of the charity group's Long Island chapter that is based in Long Beach. Kupferman learned of the Mustaches for Kids charity during his college days in North Carolina. When he found that it was a national concept, he brought it to the Island.

"A couple of years ago, I had two students in the same grade that had cancer in the same year," said Kupferman, an elementary school teacher in the Garden City school district. "It just got me thinking a lot about what a family must go through. I wanted to do something to be supportive."

All the brethren involved, many of them school teachers, grow mustaches at the same time, shaving after Thanksgiving and then growing upper-lip hair right through to the New Year. On Saturday night at The Inn, they put on the pageant-style party in which growers compete for the titles of "Sweetest Stache," "Most Inspired" (best costume), and "Top Fundraiser." The event aims to raise more awareness and more money, as well as to raise a glass to each other.

"Tonight's a little reward for all our growers," said James Bogdan, a teacher at the Lawrence Woodmere Academy, who was decked in a WWF Smackdown announcer's tuxedo and sporting some quality growth of his own. "It's a great time, all for a great cause."

The growers also solicit donations from their friends, family, coworkers and anyone else whose eye they catch with the mustache. All donations are tallied, final donations are collected, and t-shirts and raffles were sold. This season they raised just over $64,000. Since it started four years ago, Mustaches for Kids has raised $136,000 — and the rest is a (hairy) piece of Long Beach charity history.

The fund helps families who have trouble paying for the treatment their children receive at the hospital. Chapter organizers Kupferman, Bogdan, Vincent Leis and Justin Fitzmartin chose Sloan-Kettering because many children with cancer from Long Island are, at some point, treated there.

On Saturday, Leis, a Baldwin High School teacher, was rockin' a cheesy bodybuilder's costume and 1980's mullet wig to go with his 'stache. For Leis, there's no downside to the entire concept.

"It brings a lot of good friends together, many more than when we started," he said. "The best part is going to Sloan Kettering and knowing that what we're doing is letting those kids just be kids. It's the greatest feeling in the world. And then to hang out with your friends for charity? It's a total win-win situation."

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?