ZBT members skip shaving to fight cancer

During November, the members of one fraternity had an unusual excuse to skip shaving — possibly saving lives.

Members of Penn fraternity Zeta Beta Tau participated in No-Shave November for the second year in a row. This year, the fraternity raised a grand total of $10,548, making them the ninth largest fundraising team for No-Shave November in 2015 and surpassing their previous donation by more than $2,500.

No-Shave November is an online nonprofit organization whose goal is to support cancer awareness and to raise money for the fight against cancer. This year, No-Shave November will divide at least 80 percent of the proceeds equally among the following charities: theAmerican Cancer Society, the Prevent Cancer Foundation, Fight Colorectal Cancer and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

“We had incredible buy-in from the brotherhood,” College senior and former President of ZBT Perry Goffner said. He added that the success of this year’s campaign was due to the fact that “just about every single brother made a contribution,” along with support from ZBT’s “incredible alumni base.”

Goffner said the prevalence of cancer was a motivating factor for the brothers’ enthusiasm in raising money.

“All of us in some way, shape or form … have or will be affected by cancer,” he said. “I think we did really well this year. We’re really happy.”

Other brothers said their personal connections to cancer helped make the campaign successful.

“I personally have been affected by cancer in my family — I think everyone has,” Wharton senior Jeffrey Horowitz said.

They also owed much of the success to Perry Goffner’s own enthusiasm and his ability to create excitement for the campaign within the fraternity.

“I think my biggest contribution was trying to excite the rest of the fraternity about donating,” College junior and ZBT President Ryan Greenberg said. “I don’t think I would have been able to do that without Perry.”

As a result, nearly the entire fraternity participated in the campaign and 17 of them personally raised more than $100.

Greenberg plans to continue participation in the campaign next year — and he is setting his sights even higher.

“We could raise our fundraising goal,” Greenberg said. “The next logical step is to see if we can get $15,000.” For next year’s campaign, he hopes for greater involvement from both brothers and alumni, in order to raise funds and awareness for the cause.

“While a bunch of … odd-looking kids in ZBT had beards for a month, it meant a lot more than just that. Raising $10,000 for cancer [charities] was really important for us,” Greenberg said. “It’s for a really good cause.”

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