NJ Cops | Page 83

Long Hill Township grows the distance to fight cancer When the first of November arrived, certain members of Long Hill Township Police Department decided to join the fight against cancer by growing out their beards. Each year across the state, No-Shave November promises a visible increase in facial fashion men sport during the month-long campaign to support cancer research. Long Hill Township Local 322 officers decided to participate by raising money while letting their mustaches grow wild. North Plainfield Fire Department, North Plainfield Professional Fire Fighters Local 2958 and Local 2983 also joined in on the effort to support fellow officers and family members battling the disease. Long Hill Township PD set a goal to raise $2,500 – a number that was nearly doubled by the end of the month-long fundraiser. At the end of November, Local 322 had a team of furry faces, and a net gain of $4,605 to show for their efforts to fight cancer. The money also helped fund programs including the American Cancer Society, Prevent Cancer Foundation, Fight Colorectal Cancer and St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital. d New Cape May Local enjoys growing gains Talk about a hair-brained scheme to get a new Local into fundraising mode. For its first event ever, Cape May County Local 401, made up of detectives from the prosecutor’s office and formed just a few months ago, decided to get into No-Shave November and raise money to support cancer research. Local 401 State Delegate and President Joe Berg sent an email out to members, other department officers and department staff, and within a few days more than 70 people were on board. The chief suspended the department grooming policy for the month and even Cape May County Prosecutor Robert Taylor lent his support. “I put it out to a couple the male members of the staff who were into the no-shave,” Berg added. “We found out we had somebody in our department in need, and it really kind of blew up. We had people standing in line to make a contribution. This was a great event for everybody in the Local to get behind.” The no-shavers combined to raise $2,500 in donations. The Local matched that number, and $5,000 was given to a member of the office staff who is battling cancer. d www.njcopsmagazine.com ■ DECEMBER 2016 83