'No Shave November' participants come together for annual day one beardless photo

Participants of the fourth annual No Shave November benefiting St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital united at the CMA building in Nashville on Friday, October 31st, to capture their freshly shaved faces before the competition was underway. Music industry and radio station professionals, along with some of today’s hottest country stars have thrown away their razors for the month, and are allowing their facial hair to grow freely.

Pictured (L-R): Front Row - Christian Bottorff (CMA), Bill Macky (Black River), Brian Rhoades(Black River), Greg McCarn (Black River), April Johnson (Country Aircheck), Robin Rhodes(Premiere), Josh Easler (RCA)

Middle Row: Sean Patrick McGraw (Artist), Tim McFadden (Tim McFadden Management), Wendy Newcomer (Country Aircheck), Reid Benson (The Primacy Firm), Keithan Melton (Magic Mustang Publishing), Ethan Helms (Cold River), Keith Kaufman (Center Stage Tour Productions)

Back Row: RJ Curtis (All Access), Ben Balch (CMA), George Briner (Valory), Chris Loss (Stoney Creek), Chris Skinner (The Primacy Firm), George Meeker (State Farm), Mike Wilson (Black River)

Donations raised through November will help St. Jude continue to find cures and save children with cancer and other life-threatening diseases. Supporters who were unable to attend the group photo are encouraged to post a date-stamped Day 1 photo to www.facebook.com/nsnforstjude. Capping off the campaign, awards will be given for best beard, the worst beard and many more during the celebrated “Beard Bash” in Music City on December 1st.

No Shave November is using all platforms to encourage the music industry to recruit as many men (and dedicated women) as possible to join the team, and to donate at least $30 to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. This year, Lady Antebellum’s Dave Haywood, has been appointed as 2014 Chairman of the Beard. In 2013, NSN raised an impressive $220,000 for the organization, with $396,000 raised over the past three years to support St. Jude.

Participants can still register at www.nsn4sjk.com. About No Shave November: Possibly the most ingenious charitable scheme ever devised, No Shave November helps some of the world's sickest children by asking participants to do nothing. Literally. Knowing that shaving sucks time out of each day and money out of men's wallets, a couple of guys at a Nashville record label came up with a plan: Stop shaving for a month, but put a positive twist on it by donating the money saved - at least $30 - to a worthy cause like St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. In just three years, the effort has spawned thousands of beards and, more importantly, thousands of dollars in donations to St. Jude. About St. Jude: St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital is leading the way the world understands, treats and defeats childhood cancer and other life-threatening diseases. St. Jude has the world’s best survival rates for the most aggressive childhood cancers, and treatments invented at St. Jude have helped push the overall childhood cancer survival rate from 20 percent to 80 percent since we opened more than 50 years ago. St. Jude is working to drive the overall survival rate for childhood cancer to 90 percent in the next decade. St. Jude freely shares the breakthroughs we make, and every child saved at St. Jude means doctors and scientists worldwide can use that knowledge to save thousands more children. Families never receive a bill from St. Jude for treatment, travel, housing or food – because all a family should worry about is helping their child live. Join the St. Jude mission by visiting stjude.org or following St. Jude on facebook.com/stjude and twitter.com/stjude.