`Movember' fundraiser for cancer

By Pete Fontaine
Posted 12/8/16

By By PETE FONTAINE It's highly unusual to see any police officer with a beard, mustache or any kind of facial hair for that matter. However, there are exceptions to any rule, especially if the department's hierarchy gives its stamp of approval. That's

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`Movember' fundraiser for cancer

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It’s highly unusual to see any police officer with a beard, mustache or any kind of facial hair for that matter. However, there are exceptions to any rule, especially if the department’s hierarchy gives its stamp of approval. That’s why upwards of 30 JPD officers went totally unshaven for the month of November.

Back in October, Lt. Michael Babbitt and Sgt. Dennis Peacock began planning a fund-raiser that wound up being what many JPD officials – and even some civilians – described as one of the most unique fund-raising programs in recent memory. Babbitt and Peacock coordinated “No-Shave November” – a.k.a. “Movember” – two month-long programs in which participants forgo shaving to start conversations about and raise cancer awareness.

“The goal of these two movements is to increase cancer understanding and to make sure people get screened for the disease,” Babbitt said. “November is geared to also increase awareness for prostrate cancer, and No-shave November raises the understanding of other cancers.”

Peacock said many organizations and businesses, not just police departments, “participate in these types of fund-raising efforts and donate to a cancer charity that has touched someone they know or even a family member.”

For the entire JPD, that was Lori Anderson, the administrative assistant to Chief Richard S. Tamburini, who is a breast cancer survivor. Because each and every man and woman of the Johnston Police Department has the utmost respect for Anderson, Babbitt and Peacock asked her to select the cancer charity that would receive money from the month-long event.

“These men are wonderful, especially when there’s a need to help a charity or even a person in need,” said Anderson. “These guys don’t always get the respect they deserve. They’re always there to help and, for me, being honored to select the charity is the best Christmas present I could ever receive.”

To date, “No-shave November” and “Movember” has raised nearly $900 and there’s reportedly more donations on the way. Anderson, meanwhile, has selected the Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston and the Jimmy Fund to receive the JPD’s donations and also issued a thank you to Tamburini and Mayor Joseph Polisena for approving the unique fund-raiser.

“The Dana Farber Cancer Institute is extraordinary,” Anderson said. “I received my treatment there. And the Jimmy Fund, that has always had a special place in people’s hearts.”

Anderson, who issued a department-wide thank you for the opportunity to select where the JPD’s donation will go, said, “I’m not alone; we have other members whose families have been affected by cancer in one form or another.”

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