Cove officers “Beard It Up” for November
By LYNETTE SOWELL
Cove Leader-Press
Officers and support staff at the Copperas Cove Police Department are letting their beards grow to raise funds and bring awareness in a campaign called Beard It Up & Color for the Cure.
The officers are coming alongside Vicky Bridier, whose spouse is a state trooper and who lost a child to a childhood cancer called diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma, also known as DIPG.
“Her family is part of our extended law enforcement family making this campaign also very personal to us,” Sgt. Kevin Miller, public information officer for the Copperas Cove Police Department, stated in a press release.
“Officers that donate will receive a conditional exemption from the Department’s dress code policy on facial hair and be allowed to grow a beard or goatee to demonstrate their support for the fundraiser,” Miller said. “Female officers who donate can also receive an exemption on the nail color policy by wearing a color that best represents the form of cancer awareness that is closest to them.”
Residents can also get involved in the fundraiser by donating, with those who contribute $30 or more receiving a Cure Starts Now t-shirt.
Donations for the shirts may be made via an online link at: https://thecurestartsnow.salsalabs.org/beard-it-up/p/copperascovepoliced....
Nationally, the fundraising goal for Beard It Up is $150,000, with the CCPD’s goal of $1,500.
DIPG is one of the most resistant of all cancers to chemotherapy treatments and affects primarily children, and with a “dismal” prognosis, alternatives are few.
According to statistics provided on The Cure Starts Now website, 1 in 330 children in the U.S. will develop cancer by age 20 and on average, 15,500 children are diagnosed with cancer each year, with cancer being the number-one killer of children by disease in the United States.
Vicky Bridier is the Chapter Director for Central Texas of The Cure Starts Now, which has six chapters in Texas and has funded $400,000 toward pediatric cancer research.
Since 2007, The Cure Starts Now has funded 59 grants and operated with less than 3 percent overhead, with 100 percent of tribute donations minus processing fees, going toward research.
More information about The Cure Starts Now can be found at thecurestartsnow.salsalabs.org,