The St. Baldrick’s Foundation “shaves the way” to conquer kids’ cancer.

This year, at the fourth annual St. Baldrick’s Foundation and Locks of Love event on both the Jamaica and Staten Island campuses of St. John’s University, volunteers shaved 55 heads and donated 22 locks of love.

St. John’s students, faculty and staff participated in the event March 14, and the donated hair will be used to create wigs for those being treated with cancer.

Volunteers have also raised $35,000 and counting – all of which is used to find cures for childhood cancer.

The event on the Jamaica campus honored Gabrielle Brancaccio, a five-year-old child who survived cancer and serves now as an ambassador for the St. Baldrick’s Foundation.

“We feel indebted to the doctors that have helped us see through, but also, we feel so humbled by being honored by St. John’s because people are taking the time to care about others who have gone through this,” said Dana Brancaccio, Gabrielle’s mother. “It makes our family feel completed that we have gone through this full circle and that Gabrielle is healthy, and this event is so energizing and helps us feel that we have come to the other side.”

In 2011, the foundation raised more than $21 million for childhood cancer research – second only to the U.S. government in providing funding for the cause.

Contributors may see how their donations are being put to work by visiting www.StBaldricks.org. Each year, 160,000 children worldwide are diagnosed with cancer.

To find out about next year’s event, contact Angela Seegel at seegela@stjohns.edu (Queens campus) or Melissa Gibilaro at gibilarm@stjohns.edu (Staten Island campus).