If you see a scruffy-looking police officer in Hellertown borough or Lower Saucon Township this November, there’s no need to call the ‘style police’ on them. The sight of facial hair on our normally clean-shaven local cops may be jarring, but it is all for a good cause.
The No Shave November logo
Many officers in both the borough and township departments will be growing their facial hair out in support of No Shave November, a national nonprofit organization that has raised awareness of and money for cancer research, education and prevention each November for the past 10 years.
“Each whisker grown allows us to embrace our hair, which many cancer patients lose during treatment,” according to the NSN website.
In order to participate and allow their facial hair to grow into potentially fluffy, scruffy beards, Lower Saucon officers have been asked to make a minimum donation of $25 to the “No Shave November” website.
The department as a whole has a $2,000 fundraising goal, with funds raised to be donated to the Prevent Cancer Foundation, Fight Colorectal Cancer and St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital. You can contribute to the campaign by making a donation online, here.
The Hellertown Police Department also has a $25 donation requirement for participating officers, and an overall fundraising goal of $2,000. You can make a contribution in order to help the Hellertown police reach their goal here.
Online donations can be made anonymously or individuals/businesses can record their names when making them.
Customarily at the end of the month, the police officer participants in a No Shave November campaign will join together for a group “shave-off” during which they all remove the facial hair they have grown.
In general, police officers are required to be clean-shaven, with minor exceptions.
This year marks the second year the Lower Saucon Police Department has participated in No Shave November. The Hellertown Police Department has been participating for longer than that.