Battle of the Beards raising money to help trafficking victims
By Delayna Earley
The Island News
Three amazing beards – one will win glory, and one will be gone forever.
This is the name of the game for the inaugural Battle of the Beards event that will be taking place at The Fillin’ Station on Saturday, Aug. 17 on Lady’s Island.
The event, which is being held to raise money for The Helianthus Project, will feature three men with epic beards – Connor Cave, owner of The Power Washing Man; John Hazel, with Devil Dog Headquarters; and Tim Greene, with Semper Aegis Mercatus – who have been working to raise money that will go towards building Esther’s House.
Esther’s House is a hopeful project by The Helianthus Project that will be a safe haven for children to heal after they have been removed from a trafficking situation, according to founder and executive director of The Helianthus Project Rachel McBride.
Cave, Hazel and Greene have all been trying to raise money for the past several months for the cause and the person who raises the most money will win a trophy and the glory of having won the first Battle of the Beards, McBride said.
The person who raises the least amount of money will have to shave their beard on site.
While willing to do his part if he loses, Cave is hopeful that it does not come to that as he has been growing his beard since his 8-year-old daughter was around 6 months old.
“I’m pretty sure my mom is trying to convince people to work against me though so I will have to shave it off,” Cave said.
The event, which was the brainchild of Cave, is to emulate a Viking style, and going forward in coming years, McBride said they hope to hold the event as part of a Valhalla Feast.
McBride said that they set their fundraising goal very high but were realistic about their expectations since this was the inaugural year.
As of Tuesday afternoon, they have raised around $2,400, according to McBride.
The event will be held on Aug. 17, from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. at The Fillin’ Station on Lady’s Island.
While the participants are set for this year’s event, McBride said to keep an eye out in December for when they put out a call for people to put their name in for next year or nominate a friend of loved one with an amazing beard.
Delayna Earley, who joined The Island News in 2022, formerly worked as a photojournalist for The Island Packet/The Beaufort Gazette, as well as newspapers in Indiana and Virginia. She can be reached at delayna.theislandnews@gmail.com.
