The San Jose Sharks franchise was able to raise over $10,000 for the annual Stanley Cup Beard-A-Thon. The tradition of the playoff beard goes back for ages and helps raise money for charity.
Fans are able to track the progress of their facial hair growth over the course of the playoffs and accept pledges from friends and family, all in a way to help support their favorite team. According to the Sharks website, “The San Jose Sharks community pledged over $10,000 to the Beard-A-Thon to benefit two cancer related organizations; Breast Cancer Angels and The American Cancer Society.”
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This is a pretty great feat seeing as the Sharks only played in the first round of the playoffs.
This year the event hit close to home for the club, as forward Matt Nieto’s mother was diagnosed with breast cancer during the season. The proceeds helped raise money for Breast Cancer Angels, an organization which helped out Nieto and his mother, Mary, immensely. The Breast Cancer Angels help support those battle breast cancer with emotion and financial support during the course of their treatment.
This year, with over 4,500 NHL fans participating in the event across the nation, a total of $302,427 was raised for the Beard-A-Thon. The event has been going on for four years now and over $3 million has been raised for various charities around the country.
It really is an extraordinary event that brings fans together. The playoffs are no longer solely about fans of rival teams competing with each other. Rather, the bigger picture is seen and charities are benefited along the way.