♥ Falling For Louisville ♥: Charity

I had heard of St. Baldrick's for a couple of years, but had never really investigated it further. I knew that my friend, Natashia, had been involved as a volunteer, and I knew that people went to get their heads shaved to promote cancer awareness. What I didn't know is that St. Baldrick's raises the most money for childhood cancer research aside from the federal government. I also didn't realize how big the event really is and how many people come out to show support and solidarity. It was a no-brainer for me to decide to go as a volunteer this year.

(Blurry cell phone pic of my volunteer badge!)

I arrived at 1:00pm and was assigned to my post for the day. I was to walk around and sell St. Baldrick's bracelets!

I was glad I got to move around and be more a part of the event rather than standing at a booth all day. It was held downtown at Fourth Street Live! It was a chilly day, so getting to move around helped me to stay warm, as well. Dawne Gee from WAVE3 news was the MC. She is not my favorite local TV news personality, but I was really touched by her dedication to the cause. It was emotional and inspiring listening to different stories and seeing everyone encouraging each other. I was so impressed by all the women who shaved their heads! They looked so incredibly beautiful. I wish I had the courage to do it, too. Louisville raised over $124,000 for children's cancer research that day! Go Louisville!! Here are some of the photos I took.

You go, girls!

As each person went up to have their head shaved, Dawne asked him/her who they were honoring. This little boy said he was shaving his head in honor of his friend. He was so humble that he did not mention that he is also a cancer survivor. Pretty amazing little dude.

The little guy is named Dawson, and he had a whole team (spanning four generations) there to support him. He was the first kiddo I took notice of as the event began. He was adorable and so full of life!

Lots of people in line to cut their hair!! Over 450 for the day! One guy even challenged everyone there saying if the crowd could gather at least $200 in donations in the time it took to shave his head, he would shave not only his head, but also his beard...AND his eyebrows! Needless to say, there is one pretty hairless dude walking around Louisville tonight!

The 21st Annual Festival of Trees & Lights was held this weekend at Louisville Slugger Field. The festival continues through the week and concludes with the Snow Ball gala next Saturday night. It may seem a little early in the season for it, but it was still fun to go out and see all the trees! It was even better that the weather turned quite a bit cooler today. It definitely put me in the holiday spirit! I may have to go watch White Christmas now... ;-)

There were hundreds of Christmas trees and wreaths of all sizes decorated by citizens of Louisville. Some trees were decorated in a very classic manner...red, green and gold...but most trees had different themes...G.I. Joe, Disney Princesses, musical instruments, Hershey's, butterflies... The trees are displayed and put up for auction with proceeds from the event going to the Kosair Children's Hospital Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.

There were also activities for the kiddos...magicians, arts and crafts, face painting, build-your-own gingerbread houses, and pictures with Santa! In addition, some local children's dancing and singing groups were scheduled to perform throughout the day, but unfortunately I did not stay long enough to catch one.

Here are some of my photos from the event!