No-Shave November benefits Hampton girl who has leukemia

A $2,000 donation on behalf of Kaylee Manz was a welcome sight for her mom and dad.

But Kaylee may have been more excited by her gift of a stuffed bear that’s nearly as big as she is.

Either way, members of the Hampton Township Police Department were glad to support her family through their participation in a third year of No-Shave November.

“The officers are allowed to violate our policy of being clean-shaven in exchange for donating money every month that they can wear the beards,” Chief Thomas Vulakovich explained.

He and some of the hirsute policemen attended township council’s March 27 meeting, during which a ceremonial check was presented to the Manzes, with parents Carly and Austin receiving the genuine item.

“The officers try to find individuals, families or groups that need the money to help them through difficult times,” Vulakovich said, and they considered Kaylee’s situation to be a worthy cause. Two years ago, she was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, a cancer of the blood and bone marrow.

Now a first-grade student at Hampton’s Central Elementary School, Kaylee receives treatment in hopes of what very well could be a positive outcome: The five-year survival rate for children with the disease has increased greatly over time and now is about 90%, according to the American Cancer Society.

Vulakovich stressed that efforts on her behalf went beyond giving up the razor for November, as fundraising continued into the new year and involved plenty of other people.

“There are officers who grow the beards. There are some who donate and don’t grow the beards,” he said, plus other municipal staff members, “just out of kindness of their hearts, opened up the wallets and put in, even though they don’t want to grow beards, especially since some are women.”

That observation drew laughs from those in attendance, who subsequently applauded when Kaylee was given her special stuffed present.

And of course, they clapped for the $2,000 donation.

“That’s going to help you make sure that you get the best of everything,” Vulakovich assured Kaylee, who was joined at the meeting by her brother, John, and sister, Ali.

In 2023, a No-Shave November beneficiary was the Liam Finnigan Music Therapy Fund at UPMC Magee-Womens Hospital. Hampton Officer Chris Finnigan and his wife, Melanie, established the fund in honor of their son, who was born prematurely and spent his three-month life in the hospital’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.

Aiden’s Helping Hands, a nonprofit founded by Hampton High School student Aiden Hanna after his cancer diagnosis to support families battling similar difficulties, also received a donation last year.

Previous beneficiaries were the Pittsburgh North Chapter of the Mrs. Claus Club, which brings comfort to women and men undergoing cancer treatment, and Magee-Womens Research Institute and Foundation, the largest research institute in the United States devoted exclusively to women’s health research.