By Holly Herman
Reading Eagle
BERKS COUNTY, Pa. — A monthlong beard-growing contest between Berks County juvenile and adult probation officers ended recently when Nelson Berrios Sr. was declared the winner.
“I won,” 51-year-old Berrios said proudly. “I could not believe it.”
Berrios, who has been an adult probation officer for three years, said the contest was a lot of fun.
“The good thing is that I did not have to shave,” he joked. “We raised money for charity, which is a good cause. I like that I won because the money will go to the kids who need it the most.”
A total of $570 was raised from participants and other officers who attended the Feb. 28 contest finale and pizza party in the county services center.
The proceeds will be split between the Reading Youth Athletic program, which sponsors sport for city youths, and the annual polar bear plunge at Blue Marsh Lake, sponsored by the YMCA of Reading & Berks County.
Jeffrey Gregro, deputy chief probation officer and a contest organizer, said the contest required all participants to grow regular beards and mustaches from Feb. 1 to Feb. 27.
On Feb. 27, each participant pulled from a hat a picture of a style of beard. The pictures were found on an Internet site.
“Some of the participants went to a barber and got their style shaved in,” Gregro said. “I did mine on my own.”
Officers paid $10 to participate.
Berrios won 32 of the 97 votes from probation staff members who did not participate.
He said he picked a la Souvarov style, which is a combination of a mustache and sideburns that curve down near the mouth.
“I went to a barbershop and then I went home and fixed it up,” Berrios said. “A girl in the office used mascara to cover up my gray hair. People said I looked creepy.”
Gregro said he shaped his beard into the Old Dutch style.
“When I went grocery shopping people thought I was Amish,” he chuckled.
Eric Burkholter, assistant chief probation officer, who also helped organized the contest, said he shaved his beard into the Franz Josef style, which has sideburns that attach to a V-shaped mustache.
Burkholter said the contest was a morale booster for the two departments, which merged in April.
“This really helps people in both departments get to know each other,” Burkholter said. “This makes people smile and brings the officers together.”
Last year, the juvenile probation department held a contest and raised $190 for local charities.
“We did much better this year having both departments involved,” Burkholter said.