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DEL.ICIO.USHelp children; it’s what Erica would have wanted
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
She knew that her great aunt had donated her hair to help others.
And Erica Paige Whitney also knew there were kids who’d gone bald due to health-related reasons.
She wanted to help, so she and her mom, Wendy Stoner, did some research. They hooked up with Locks of Love, a Florida-based nonprofit that provides free hairpieces for kids 18 and younger.
Erica, who was 7 or 8 at the time, decided to donate. She bundled her hair in a ponytail.
Snip. Snip.
They put her hair in a plastic bag, packaged it and mailed it to Locks of Love in Lake Worth, Fla. Somewhere in some community, a child’s self-esteem was boosted because of a prosthetic hairpiece.
What’s sweet about it is Erica’s selflessness played a role.
“She was so proud,” Stoner told me Friday, the day of the 10-year-old’s funeral.
On July 9, the rising fifth-grader at Mountain Park Elementary was killed in a car wreck just south of Augusta. She and her family were returning home to Lilburn from Myrtle Beach, S.C.
My Sunday column about Erica resonated with readers. They embraced her brief but active life in her send-off at Grace Fellowship Church in Snellville. Many pledged to pray for the family, which includes Erica’s sisters, Emma, 2, and Gracie, 7.
There may be something else you can do to honor a child who lived a spirited life and got joy in helping others. Maybe, in some form or fashion, you can help Erica’s favorite charity — Locks of Love.
Donate your hair. Give money. Hold a local fund-raiser. Something.
If you do, you’ll be supporting a nonprofit that’s put hair on the heads of nearly 2,000 financially strapped kids.
I did a little research.
It takes six to 10 ponytail pieces (10 inches each in length) to make one hairpiece. Hair donations are accepted from men, women and children. Race and hair color don’t matter. The hairpieces are custom-fitted prosthetics with a retail value of $3,500 to $6,000. They last about 18 months. The nonprofit sees to repairs for free or on a sliding-fee scale.
In this organization, kids help kids. Lauren Kukkamaa, spokeswoman for the 9-year-old nonprofit, said young folk account for 80 percent of the hair donations.
“We’re contacted all the time by parents whose children saw someone who didn’t have any hair, and the children are wanting to know what they can do,” she said.
“They get so compassionate about it. It’s pretty amazing.”
Erica’s family had asked that, in lieu of flowers, donations be made to Locks of Love. Stoner, her mother, told me she might donate the child’s college savings to the cause. They may even host a yearly community “hair cut-off” to memorialize Erica.
Before her death, Erica was getting ready to donate some more of her long, black locks. This time, Mom and her three daughters were going to do it as a family.
For more information, visit the Web site of Locks of Love or call 1-888-896-1588.
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Comments
By Jim Osterman
July 19, 2006 04:28 PM | Link to this
Rick:
Thanks for reminding us that small things can make a big difference.
As usual, the childern lead us.