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On Saturday, Smiles From Heaven will be hosting their third annual “Shave-a-thon” event, which aims to have participants shave their heads, so children with pediatric cancer who have lost their hair do not feel alone in their ongoing battles. It is an annual event that brings many members of the community; especially, veterans and law enforcement officers together, in efforts to show their support for the cause. 

On Saturday, Smiles From Heaven will be hosting their third annual “Shave-a-thon” event, which aims to have participants shave their heads, so children with pediatric cancer who have lost their hair do not feel alone in their ongoing battles. It is an annual event that brings many members of the community; especially, veterans and law enforcement officers together, in efforts to show their support for the cause. 

On Saturday, Smiles From Heaven will be hosting their third annual “Shave-a-thon” event, which aims to have participants shave their heads, so children with pediatric cancer who have lost their hair do not feel alone in their ongoing battles. It is an annual event that brings many members of the community; especially, veterans and law enforcement officers together, in efforts to show their support for the cause. 

On Saturday, Smiles From Heaven will be hosting their third annual “Shave-a-thon” event, which aims to have participants shave their heads, so children with pediatric cancer who have lost their hair do not feel alone in their ongoing battles. It is an annual event that brings many members of the community; especially, veterans and law enforcement officers together, in efforts to show their support for the cause. 

On Saturday, Smiles From Heaven will be hosting their third annual “Shave-a-thon” event, which aims to have participants shave their heads, so children with pediatric cancer who have lost their hair do not feel alone in their ongoing battles. It is an annual event that brings many members of the community; especially, veterans and law enforcement officers together, in efforts to show their support for the cause. 

On Saturday, Smiles From Heaven will be hosting their third annual “Shave-a-thon” event, which aims to have participants shave their heads, so children with pediatric cancer who have lost their hair do not feel alone in their ongoing battles. It is an annual event that brings many members of the community; especially, veterans and law enforcement officers together, in efforts to show their support for the cause. 

On Saturday, Smiles From Heaven will be hosting their third annual “Shave-a-thon” event, which aims to have participants shave their heads, so children with pediatric cancer who have lost their hair do not feel alone in their ongoing battles. It is an annual event that brings many members of the community; especially, veterans and law enforcement officers together, in efforts to show their support for the cause. 

On Saturday, Smiles From Heaven will be hosting their third annual “Shave-a-thon” event, which aims to have participants shave their heads, so children with pediatric cancer who have lost their hair do not feel alone in their ongoing battles. It is an annual event that brings many members of the community; especially, veterans and law enforcement officers together, in efforts to show their support for the cause. 

On Saturday, Smiles From Heaven will be hosting their third annual “Shave-a-thon” event, which aims to have participants shave their heads, so children with pediatric cancer who have lost their hair do not feel alone in their ongoing battles. It is an annual event that brings many members of the community; especially, veterans and law enforcement officers together, in efforts to show their support for the cause. 

On Saturday, Smiles From Heaven will be hosting their third annual “Shave-a-thon” event, which aims to have participants shave their heads, so children with pediatric cancer who have lost their hair do not feel alone in their ongoing battles. It is an annual event that brings many members of the community; especially, veterans and law enforcement officers together, in efforts to show their support for the cause. 

Locals seeking a complete shave of their head this weekend are in luck, as one organization is going to shave whoever participates at their annual event while doing it all for a good cause. 

Smiles From Heaven will be hosting its third annual Shave-a-thon event from 4-8 p.m. Saturday at L&F Distributors, which aims to have participants shave their heads so children with pediatric cancer who have lost their hair do not feel alone in their ongoing battles. It is an annual event that brings many members of the community together, especially veterans and law enforcement officers, in efforts to show their support for the cause. 

The event is a very sentimental one for Ray Sanchez, president and founder of Smiles From Heaven. His daughter, Bella Sanchez, fought a hard battle with cancer, and she lost her hair as she got treatment. The president of the organization states that most children diagnosed with cancer lose their hair when undergoing harsh chemotherapy treatments. 

“Our Shave-a-thon event shows our local children that we are fighting right alongside them, and it brings hope to all their family and friends,” Sanchez said. “Every year, our warriors get to give the first ‘buzz’ to our participants to kick off the event.”

Sanchez said that the smiles on the children’s faces are what makes this event “meaningful and worthwhile.” They feel a sense of solidarity, and in a way, they feel normal again because people they look up to are then bald just like they are, he said. 

Sanchez states that the need to raise funds and awareness against this type of cancer is widespread as there is a great number of children affected by the disease.

There are approximately 45 children affected by pediatric cancer and blood disorders that are currently traveling out of town to receive their life-saving treatments, Sanchez said. And these figures only represent children who are in active treatment. Smiles From Heaven also serves children who are already in remission and must travel out of town for cancer-related checkups. 

“These numbers do not include the hundreds of children we serve at the hospitals where are children get treated,” Sanchez said. “Year-round, Smiles From Heaven works closely with the social workers and child life specialists from surrounding children’s hospitals to ease the child’s cancer journey at a hospital setting.”

Some of these hospitals include the Methodist Children’s Hospital, University Hospital of San Antonio, The Children’s Hospital of San Antonio and Driscoll Children’s Hospital of Corpus Christi. 

Sanchez said they also have their Over the Rainbow program as well, where they continue to assist families who have lost a child to pediatric cancer. He said the needs these families have is tremendous following the death of a child, and they must be assisted to cope with their loss. 

The previous two years have been more difficult for the Smiles From Heaven, with the pandemic's looming presence, but he hopes things will continue to improve thanks to the situation improving. Sanchez said that this year and this month of September -- which is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month -- has been strong when it comes to fundraising because of the low number of COVID-19 cases. 

“This year with the pandemic more at ease, Smiles From Heaven has done fairly well with our fundraising events,” Sanchez said. “But we are still longways from our goal. Some of our future goals is to have our own vans for transportation, and an office to better assist families and provide more of the much-needed help and services our children need for a better chance at survival.

“I would like to thank the entire community for supporting us. It is because of you that Smiles From Heaven is able to provide the programs and services that are making a difference in the lives of our local children fighting cancer.”

Jorge A. Vela is a native Laredoan who studied at Laredo College and Texas State earning a bachelor's degree in mass communication. After a stint of working for several publications, other local media outlets and managing his own tutoring business for years, Vela decided to get back into journalism by working as a general assignments reporter for the Laredo Morning Times. He loves spending time with la familia, soccer, cooking and jamming out