Click on the image above to see video of the Dec. 7 headshaving event (Video provided by the UNMC Student Alliance for Global Health).
In December the Student Alliance for Global Health (SAGH) raised $1,289 during its BuzzCuts campaign.
The fundraiser was part of a national campaign organized by Americans for Informed Democracy to pay for bed nets for children in Africa to protect them from malaria.
All money raised was matched by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
SAGH members convinced 12 students and faculty to have their heads shaved and the UNMC community was asked to vote with money for the person they would like to see buzzed.
The top two vote getters were Eric Meyer-Reed and Jason Lambrecht, both second year medical students. Their heads were shaved on Dec. 7 at a celebratory party at a local night club.
William Chaney, Ph.D., a professor of biochemistry at UNMC, also agreed to have his beard shaved into a handle bar moustache and give a lecture to show it off.
Second-year medical students Leslie Schwietz and Brady Beecham worked together to organize the fundraiser.
“We were really surprised and pleased with how willing UNMC students and professors were to get their head shaved,” Schwietz said.
The money raised will pay for 257 bed nets, she said.