Kutting for Kids Numbers Are In -- People Chop A Lot of Hair!

By Jeannie Blaylock First Coast News

JACKSONVILLE, FL -- Kutting for Kids, our 5th annual event to get wigs for children, drew a big crowd to the Orange Park Mall Sunday. I was there meeting people the entire time and I never heard one person whisper a complaint. It just shows you the generous people we have on our First Coast.

We were asking people to donate ten-inches or more to help children regain their self esteem. Many people told me they say Melissa's story on First Coast News this week.

Melissa was burned in a car accident seven years ago. She had 4th degree burns, which doctors tell me, go into the bone and cartilage.

Melissa's grandma told me kids have called Melissa a "monkey" because she lost so much of her natural skin in the accident. Some of her nose and lips were burned off, as well as her fingers and ears. But Melissa received a beautiful auburn wig from people's donations and it has made her feel "pretty" again. It's truly amazing what a wig will do for a child.

So I was thrilled to see people donating their hair. Some told me they did the big chop two years ago and they were back again!

Moments which really touched me -- A lady with tears in her eyes but a smile on her face walked up to me with a plastic bag. She had a hard time at first getting out the words but then I understood. It was Judy Hartman. Her son, Jonathon, 1st Armored Division, was killed in Iraq on April 17 in an ambush. She had his reddish ponytails and wanted to donate them to the children. I thought how difficult it must be for her to hold her son's hair in her hands and then turn it over to someone else. She said he'd had a haircut before the Iraqi war when he went to work at the Ritz on Amelia Island. Her comment was that God had given His Son to us and so now her son could give back-once again--to the community.

-- Another woman came up and was obviously having a bit of trouble just getting there. She was a senior citizen who explained to me right away that her daughter had died of ovarian cancer and she'd saved her hair for ten years. She was still sad over the death of her daughter, of course, and explained that her daughter's name was Helen, just like hers. She handed me a beautiful ponytail. Then she told me she herself was blind. So I tried to describe to her how happy our faces looked to receive such a gift.

Thanks to everyone who worked so hard for this year's event. Here are the results? 784 Ponytails, enough to make wigs for about 65 children. More than 9,000 inches of hair were collected weighing more than 100 pounds. More than $1700 in cash was also donated to help in the manufacture of the wigs.

Hooray! What a success.

A special thanks to Lee Goodnight, Sue Beeskaw, Moose and Friends (our great bluegrass band), the Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts, Publix and the Orange Park Mall.

And thanks to VFW Post 1988 for the successful Poker Run Saturday which raised more than $1500 for Kutting for Kids. Next year make sure you get in on that fun! The winning hand this year in Green Cove was a full house with Jacks and 6's.

Our stylists volunteered their time and stood for hours without earning a penny. But I talked with them and heard nothing but gratitude they could participate. So thank you, stylists, for your professional work and your big hearts. People were leaving so happy with their new haircuts.

The longest ponytail award went to Kalpan Patel. She donated two 44-inch ponytails! Wow! I saw her walk in with hair almost to the floor and thought, "Some young girl will be ecstatic to get your hair!"

The ponytail from the longest distance came from Jennifer Verwer, visiting from Pennsylvania.

And thanks to Sarah, who let people pay a buck to choose her new hairstyle. What a terrific young woman you are!

Next year we'll do it again.

If you still want to donate ten inches or more just send your ponytail in a zip-loc bag to me at the station:

1070 East Adams Street Jacksonville, FL 32202

We're donating the hair to Locks of Love, a non-profit group which works directly with the children to make them custom wigs. The children even get to choose their favorite color. And when their heads grow they get another wig for free.

It's all happening because of the generous people here who realize, "My hair will grow back!"

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