No-shave sheriff’s office

The deputies and other staff at Jay County Sheriff’s Office have taken on a different look this month.
They still have the traditional tan uniforms. And their equipment has not changed.
But their silhouettes are a bit scruffier.
More the 20 members of the office’s staff are participating in No-Shave November in an effort to raise awareness and money for those who have cancer.
“The officers brought it up to me,” said Jay County Sheriff Dwane Ford, passing the credit to his staff. “They wanted to do it.”
The idea of growing out facial hair in November was a tradition in some places already before Matthew Hill’s eight children — the family lives in the Chicago area — formed No-Shave November as a non-profit group in 2009. It was a special project they took on after their father’s death from colon cancer in November 2007.
The rules are simple. Participants are asked to go untouched by the blades of a razor for the month and instead donate any money they might spend on such grooming to charity.
The official non-profit has raised more than $2 million over six years, partnering to help St. Jude Children’s Hospital, Fight Colorectal Cancer, Prevent Cancer Foundation and American Cancer Society.
Jail commander Nathan Keever proposed the idea of taking part in No-Shave November at the sheriff’s office earlier this year.
It’s a win-win for the officers and staff — normally sheriff’s office policy requires them to be clean-shaven — as they get a break from the razor for a month while also participating in a positive project.
“Dwane was agreeable to it,” said 911 director Bill Baldwin, who has helped organize the initiative along with Keever. “We’ve kind of joked about it or mentioned it several times since then. So we decided to do it.”
“It was an easy fundraiser to do,” said Keever. “For one, it builds morale around the department. We’re raising money for a good cause.”
The sheriff’s office went with an up-front approach to bringing in those funds, asking all who were interested in participating to make a $20 donation. So far, that has brought in more than $400 toward the goal of reaching at least the $500 mark.
There are also plans to allow the public to contribute near the end of the month. The idea is to accept $1 donations in exchange for votes on which staff member has grown the best beard, though the final details have not been worked out.
All money that is raised will be donated to Jay County Cancer Society.
Now almost two weeks into the month, the staff has found the initiative is serving to help build unity as well.
“I think there’s camaraderie,” said Baldwin, who began his career with a part-time job at Jay County Jail in 1990. “We’re all part of the same team.
“And we have a lot of new guys. I think some of us older guys sometimes forget about the new guys. It gives us a chance to get to know them.”
And in the process, they get to give back to the community for a common cause.
“There’s cancer that runs through everybody’s family,” said Keever. “It touches everybody.”