Campus Police Does “No-Shave” November

Published 4 years ago -


Richard Hudson

Staff Writer

If you noticed Campus Police personnel sporting beards during the month of November, it is not a new fashion trend for law enforcement. Instead, it is part of a nationwide effort to care for and raise awareness for the invisible wounds of war.

Campus Police is 16 days into the 4th Annual First Responder No-Shave November, in which officers forego shaving in exchange for contributing $100 to Home Base, a program administered through the Red Sox Foundation and Massachusetts General Hospital with the sole focus of helping at-risk Veterans and Military Families regain the lives they once had.

No-Shave November raises money for veterans and their families who are recovering from battle-induced post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and brain injuries. This program also seeks to promote greater awareness and understanding of these conditions.

“The Assumption community is accustomed to seeing police officers with a clean, close shave,” said Lieutenant Anthony Krow of the College’s Campus Police. “By participating in No-Shave November, the facial hair creates conversation which leads to explain why we’re growing facial hair and ultimately greater awareness.”

According to the Campus Police’s  fundraising page, “In November of 2017, 60 Massachusetts Police Departments and three Community Partners participated, raising over $128,000 for Veterans and their Families.” Campus Police has set the goal for this year’s No-Shave November at $1,000, of which $830 has been raised.

Every police department in Red Sox Nation (New England and Southwest Florida, the location of JetBlue Park at Fenway South in Lee County) has been invited to participate in the program.

Home Base was founded after the Boston Red Sox won the 2007 World Series when players and owners met with wounded veterans at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. According to the Red Sox Foundation website, “Red Sox Chairman Tom Werner made a commitment, following the four-hour visit, to partner with the Massachusetts General Hospital in order to address the signature Invisible Wounds of War.”

Home Base is particularly noteworthy because it was born from the first-ever partnership between an Academic Medical Center and a Major League Baseball team.

According to Lt. Krow, this month-long effort holds a special meaning. “Our department has several Veterans that have served or are serving in the military,” he said. “The Department has committed to forgo shaving in order to raise awareness and funds for Home Base and to break the stigma associated with post-traumatic stress and other invisible wounds of war that our returning Service Members and their families face.”

For more information about Home Base, please visit their page on the Red Sox Foundation website at https://www.redsoxfoundation.org/home-base/. If you would like to donate, please visit the Campus Police fundraising page at https://because.massgeneral.org/fundraiser/1736732.

Richard Hudson, a junior, studies Organizational Communications. He is a staff writer for Le Provocateur.

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