Fun fundraising

Shedding five-year-old beard and hair for charity a rewarding, inspiring experience for man

Brett Heistinger is feeling a little lighter above the shoulders these days.

After nearly five years of letting his beard and hair grow, he shaved it all off for a good cause recently, raising funds for Bridges to Hope, a food aid centre in St. John’s.

Along the way, Heistinger, who said he hadn’t done much volunteering or fundraising up to this point, realized a few things.

“It kind of changed me in a way because after this I just want to help more and more. If you have extra time, why not help someone else?” he said.

He also concluded that if he were female, he would not have long hair.

“The hair kind of drove me insane. I don’t think I’ll ever be growing that back again, but I’ll grow the beard back,” he said.

The initial idea to grow his facial hair came to Heistinger shortly into his electrical engineering studies at Memorial University, which he started in 2016. For his first work term, he had to shave his face for a fit test before venturing offshore.

Then, he forgot to bring a razor with him.

“The time that I spent out there, I wasn’t able to shave, and after that I said, ‘Why not just grow it out?’”

He let his hair go, as well.

It was always in the back of his mind from then on to do a fundraiser toward the end of his studies, and he is pleased to have followed through.

Heistinger, who is from St. John’s, ran the fundraiser from April 9-19 and collected just under $2,000 for the charity.

Heistinger agreed if donations reached the $1,000-mark he would shave half his head and face. The barber who did the deed told him it was the “best worst haircut he’s ever given,” he said.

He lasted a day with the look. “I wasn’t able to keep it longer than that,” he said.

“It was hard for me to look at. It felt really weird. If I went to scratch one side of my head, it was different from scratching the other.”

‘SUPER PROUD’

Victoria Hollohan and Heistinger have been dating for almost four years, so she had only ever seen him without a beard and long hair in pictures.

“He looks really different. It took a couple days to get used to it. I definitely couldn’t get used to the half and half,” she laughed.

“He was pretty done with the long hair, but he stuck to the commitment.”

Hollohan said the couple has talked about volunteering more since the fundraiser.

“He wanted to be able to fundraise to make a difference, so I was definitely super proud of him once he started getting it on the go,” she said.

Heistinger considered a few different organizations to assist, deciding to go with Bridges to Hope.

Last year, the nonprofit organization provided food aid to more than 10,000 people. It provides hampers with fresh food, including bread, vegetables and fruit, to people in need, and has a variety of other programming.

Heistinger said he is happy he could help.

“Even if we raised half of what we raised from it, it would have been rewarding,” he said.