Date:  October 18, 2007

CONTACT:  Mary Riherd Broomfield, Marketing and Public Relations Director
                (626) 445-7771, ext. 313, mbroomfield@gsmwvc.org


       

Pasadena Brownies Cut Hair for Locks of Love
There were few tears and more giggles when members of Brownie Troop #148 recently donated their ponytails and pigtails to needy children.

Based at St. Philip the Apostle Church in Pasadena, the third-grade Brownies were sending their hair to Locks of Love, a not-for-profit organization that creates hair pieces for children who have lost their hair because of illness or injury.

“When I was little my hair was like this,” said Julia Amestoy looking at her new hairdo. “I think it’s really important to help out others, especially kids who are sick."

Indeed, Amestoy’s father, Tom, spoke with the girls after the haircutting about his recently diagnosed cancer. “You are helping other kids feel better about themselves,” he said. “But don’t forget that they also need your prayers. Cancer is a very scary thing for an adult…imagine how it might be for a little child."

Started in 1998, Locks of Love has to date supplied more than 2,000 children with hair pieces. Children comprise more than 80 percent of the donors, making it a charity where children have the opportunity to directly help other children.
 

Brownies, their siblings and even a few moms participated at the event which took place at the San Marino Sculpt Salon. Stylists and a manicurist forgo clients for the afternoon to give the girls their beauty makeovers. The event was in the planning stages before the summer break, but some Brownies, like Alejandra Almada and Sophia Rocca, couldn’t wait to donate their hair and had it cut earlier in the year. Rocca brought her ponytail in a baggie to the event in support of her fellow troopers. She said she cut her hair for children because, “I just didn’t want other people to laugh at [the kids] if they were bald. They have feelings, too."

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