Stay home, Support the NHS and Brave the Shave, is the moto of the newly founded Facebook group raising thousands for the RCHT.
Two local Hayle residents are encouraging people to ‘brave the shave’ to help raise money for the NHS during the Coronavirus pandemic.
Eddy Penrose and Ollie Downes decided to shave their heads whilst stuck at home bored. ‘Me and Ollie both shaved our heads, thought why not create a page so our mates can do it too’, Eddy explained. They then created a Facebook group to encourage others to do the same, so far the group has raised over £10,000 for the Royal Cornwall Hospital Trust Charity and the total is still rising.
People of all ages are joining in, including Declan Williams, 20 who said ‘I was already volunteering at the community kitchen in Hayle by delivering food to people’s homes. When I saw the brave the shave movement on Facebook, I thought it was a fun way to raise money for the amazing front line workers. Within 10 minutes of mentioning it to my mum my hair was on the floor’. There are a total of 3,887 members in the Facebook group, and this number is still rising. People are posting there shaved heads to the page all day everyday and even nominated their friends.
Declan Williams, 20 braved the shave
The group has far exceeded the creators expectations, what started out as two friends has now turned county wide. Eddy said ‘me and Ollie are literally overwhelmed with the results of the page. We never thought it would get like this.’ When the page was set up the target started off at £150, it has now completely surpassed this to have a target of £15,000 that they are on track to hit Friday 10th April, when the fundraiser finishes.
At the heart of this was the incentive to raise all this money for the NHS, specifically The Royal Cornwall Hospital Trust. This hospital holds much value for people in Cornwall as it is the one main hospital for the county. Eddy said ‘the main thing is that our NHS staff in Cornwall knows that everyone is right behind them supporting.’ The group has bought a community together and really showed that people can support one an other through difficult times.
‘Just two Hayle boys that tried getting the community together’ Eddy explains, and it is clear to see they succeeded in this. ‘We never thought it would get like this, its been non stop since we started, we are just happy that this page has out smiles on peoples faces in this difficult time’.
If you want to ‘brave the shave’ and donate to the RCHT then search ‘stay home, support the NHS and brave the shave’ into Facebook and join the group.
Brave the Shave for the NHS