This year, St. Patrick’s Day was more than leprechauns and shamrocks for employees of National Information Solutions Cooperative (NISC). That day, 11 NISC employees lopped off their locks for the St. Baldrick’s Day event, hosted by the Bismarck, N.D.-based Basin Electric Power Cooperative. St. Baldrick’s Day is more than just a simple haircut. It is a national effort to raise money and funds to help battle childhood cancer.
“It is a good cause and draws attention to an important issue,” said Brent Wetzel, who spearheads NISC’s involvement.
This year, NISC’s staff “went the distance,” getting funding pledges to go bald or lose hair in some fashion. The NISC team was comprised of employees Vern Dosch, Ed Wolff, Dan Brooke, Ashley Bruner, Kellan Damm, Bill Heinzen, Mathew Krogen, Brian VerDouw, Stacy Walch, Terry Walch and Brent Wetzel. Team friends Braxton Wetzel and Macy Krueger also joined with the team’s at the public haircut.
Dosch, President and CEO of NISC, didn’t have a lot of hair on his head to donate, so for the sake of a good cause he offered up his mustache, something his face has not been without since 1976.
Wolff, Vice President of Enterprise Solutions with NISC, gave up a full head of hair for the day. “It’s such a helpless feeling when you hear that a family member or friend is dealing with cancer,” he said. “I wanted some way to help contribute to a solution. Even though shaving your head is such a small thing for the participants, this community has raised more than $350,000 in the past four years to assist in funding research to find a cure for childhood cancer.”
Some members of the NISC team dyed their hair, pulled it into spikes or created braids before the strands fell. Krogen’s inventive hairdo stood out in the crowd. For him, the issue of childhood cancer hits close to home. “The first year I participated was three years ago. My cousin Evan was diagnosed with leukemia just before the event,” he said. “Being at the hospital and watching what he was and is going through was the hardest thing I have ever seen. Coloring my hair and looking silly makes Evan laugh and that is why I do it.” His cousin stood by and watched as Krogen lost his multicolored locks.
Stacy Walch, Ashley Bruner and her cousin Macy Krueger didn’t shave the day, but they did give a few inches of their coif. Each of them had at least eight inches of hair trimmed and donated to Pantene’s Beautiful Lengths, an organization that makes wigs for cancer patients.
With a generous match from NISC, the team raised more than $14,000 for the St. Baldrick’s Foundation. Combined with the other businesses and individuals who participated, the local event has raised more than $113,000. Donations are still being accepted through April.
“I look forward to the St. Baldrick’s event every year,” Wetzel said. “I do it for every child that is suffering from this dreaded disease. I just hope next year I can keep finding people to contribute and to also join NISC’s team. I want to keep making this event bigger and bigger.”
For more information on St. Baldrick’s day, please visit
www.stbaldricks.org.
