Organization helps sick kids realize their movie dreams

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There may be more bald people on your daily commute than usual Oct. 19. But no worries, it’s all in the name of cancer awareness.

The “Be Bold, Be Bald” movement is an annual 24-hour event encouraging people to stand in solidarity with cancer victims by donning a bald cap for the day. Being bold and bald is exactly what Jeff Freedman — the founder of Small Army for a Cause, the nonprofit behind the movement — is asking for people to do.

“What we recognize is just because you lose your hair, it doesn’t mean you’re weak,” Freedman said. “It’s a sign of strength.”

For Freedman and his late co-founder Mike Connell — who died from cancer in 2007, and who inspired the event — “Be Bold, Be Bald” is about pushing aside vanity and overcoming challenges.

Their Bronx-based beneficiary, A Moment of Magic, also strives to help cancer patients in a creative way. Kylee McGrane never would have thought this was how her English and communication degrees from the College of Mount Saint Vincent would be used. But since its inception in 2015, the nonprofit has thrived and grown.

A Moment of Magic allows college-aged students to volunteer at children’s hospitals and social service institutions. Those volunteers dress up as princesses, superheroes and other child favorites. Visits can range from reading stories to hosting dance parties.

“I think that what is really incredible about kids, especially kids battling cancer, is we get to see them days or weeks or even hours after their surgery, and they just fight to play, and they fight to get up, and play Lego castle or play with Play-Doh or sing a song with you,” McGrane said. “I think that’s so — I don’t even know.

“You really don’t know strength until you walk into a child’s room who has just undergone surgery or chemotherapy. There is nothing like that.”

Inspired by Disney’s “Frozen” princess Elsa, McGrane has made use of her blonde hair and blue eyes to lift the spirits of sick children. Her first visit was to a 200-bed hospital on Long Island. Since then, the princess hasn’t put down her crown.

“Once you walk into one hospital room and you hear that little gasp from a child where they’re like, ‘Oh my gosh, it’s my favorite princess standing in my room’ and seeing that smile — since that day, I have not stopped talking about A Moment of Magic.”

What was once an organization run out of her dorm room in college, it has since become a nonprofit with 16 chapters across the country and more than 500 volunteers. But A Moment of Magic doesn’t just have a presence in the United States. McGrane has gotten several requests from outside the country … and distance doesn’t stop magic.

“It is very hard to say no, and we never want to turn a family away,” she said. “So we recently launched some new technology where we are actually able to video chat with kids from all over the world. We send them little capes in the mail, and we’re able to reach kids in Australia, or Germany or England, and that’s been really amazing to see how this impact can really spread.”

But for McGrane, it doesn’t matter if the child is down the block in the Bronx or halfway around the globe. Every request is treated as a priority, and serves as a reminder of the importance of fundraising and raising cancer awareness.

Last month, A Moment of Magic did just that at its first ever Night of Magic Gala, raising money for the nonprofit at the Coliseum in White Plains.

Encouraging others to help those affected is the core of both A Moment of Magic and Small Army for a Cause, and is a time where many tend to feel powerless.

“We do it, obviously, to honor people who have cancer, and we also do it because people need something to do and feel helpful,” Freedman said. “You’re not making the drugs. You take them to the hospital and say you care, but many times we feel helpless, and many times people need to do something.

“And sometimes sharing their story is part of that.”

Part of wearing the bald caps is to show beauty exists no matter how someone might look, while remembering the struggle cancer patients face each day.

“And I think that’s such an important message to spread to kids who might have lost hair,” McGrane said. “What is beautiful about you is what you do and how you treat people.”

Be Bold, Be Bald, Jeff Freedman, Small Army for a Cause, Mike Connell, A Moment of Magic, Kylee McGrane, Mount Saint Vincent, Disney, Simone Johnson

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