Seminarian makes ‘a brave shave’ to raise funds for church playground

Jeremy Belk started the day Nov. 10 with a full head of hair and a beard. By the end of the day, his brother had shorn him of it all.

It wasn’t a sibling prank gone too far, but an effort by Jeremy Belk, a seminarian for the Archdiocese of Baltimore, to raise funds to support the Pastorate of St. Francis, St. Mary, and Holy Family in Middletown.

During a Sunday afternoon parish fall festival, among bounce houses for children and bales of hay, Belk’s head was shaved to celebrate the pastorate reaching its fundraising goal for a new church playground.

A new pavilion and playground for the Middletown parish were a vision of the pastor, Father Michael Rubeling. 

“The goal of the playground and pavilion project is to provide a space for families and parishioners to gather, especially with the steady growth of our parish and increase of new, young families,” Belk said.

The staff planned the Holy Family Fall Festival for Nov. 10 to raise money for these initiatives. To help raise funds for the playground, Belk created the “A Brave Shave” fundraiser challenge in the last two weeks leading up to the festival. He adapted the idea after hearing about a pastor in another diocese who shaved his head as a fundraiser initiative.

Known for his full beard and head of hair, Belk committed to shaving more of his head and face at different financial goals. Each was inspired by the look of a different person or character, including Ron Swanson from “Parks and Recreation,” St. Francis of Assisi, and Aang from the animated series, “Avatar: The Last Airbender.” 

In addition to the shaving initiative, Belk found anonymous donors to match parish donations of more than $5,000. Fundraising continued up to the fall festival date, as Belk wore a sandwich board ad with a QR code to encourage donations. 

After surpassing the $10,000 goal and raising $15,000 for the playground, parishioners gathered at the fall festival to witness Belk being shaved by his brother, Nathan. 

“As I was sitting in the barber’s chair, I was reflecting on how that morning I had only raised a little over $1,000 after two weeks,” said Belk. “But now, over just a few hours, we had only $2,100 to the goal, and our parishioners, guests and my own family are pledging hundreds of dollars to get there. 

“My immediate and extended family, friends, many parishioners and guests, and even my vocations director watched as four months of hair and beard fell in the wind.”

After removing all his hair, a blue arrow was added to the top of his head, giving him the resemblance of Aang from the “Avatar” series. “My siblings and I grew up watching that show, so it was kind of a dream come true to do this,” said Belk.

Belk hopes the fundraising initiative inspires more Catholics to view their church as a parish home.

“The parish should be a place where we encounter Jesus Christ in each other, especially after receiving him in the most holy Eucharist at Mass,” said Belk. “If the parish life is grounded in the Sacred Heart of Jesus and guided by careful discernment of the Holy Spirit, then Catholics should want to be there all the time and be filled with life.”

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