Student reaches charity goal, shaves teacher's beard

Sidney Allard, 8 raised more than $1,000 for Jump Rope for Heart. As a reward, she was tasked with shaving her P.E. teacher's beard.

Jon Linden, P.E. teacher at North and South Elementary, had promised students participating in the charity drive that he would either fashion his hair into a mohawk or shave his beard if one of them raised $1,000.

"Unfortunately for me, Sidney raised over $1,000," Linden said at a gathering at North Elementary on Wednesday where Allard shaved his beard.

With help from Tiffany Keller from Textured Edge, Allard used an electric razor to rid Linden of facial fuzz to chants of "shave that beard" from the crowd of students gathered in the school's courtyard.

Linden has encouraged students to participate in the program for the last 11 years, but has never had a student who raised this much money.

"It was kind of cool," he said.

The area program director told Linden that it's very rare for a student to raise more than $1,000 for the program, he said.

Allard simply set up a website and asked all her family members and friends to donate, and received a big response, she explained.

Allard decided to participate in the fundraiser because her grandfather suffered a heart attack a while ago, she said.

Shaving Linden's beard was weird, Allard observed, adding that her teacher looks much different now.

The program is geared toward encouraging kids to raise money for the American Heart Association. The kids who participate receive incentives for raising certain amounts of money as thank you gifts.

Linden encourages all the kids at North and South Elementary to participate in the program, usually during February in honor of American heart month.

This is Linden's last year teaching in Sidney, so he was glad that Allard met the mark.

"It's kind of nice, in my last year that somebody reached that goal," Linden said.

He added that Allard is a sweet girl.

Those who participate in Jump Rope for Heart gain jump rope skills, learn how the heart works as well raise money for children with heart defects, according to the AHA.

The AHA's mission statement is "building healthier lives, free of cardiovascular diseases and stroke," according to its website.