Good Shepherd Students, Teacher Give
Good Shepherd School teacher Michelle Fulton was getting her hair cut when a stylist mentioned the concept of donating hair to a program that makes and provide wigs to cancer patient.
On April 22, Fulton and eight of her students donated more than 36 feet of hair to the Beautiful Lengths program. For the record, here is how The Message arrived at a length of more than 12 yards for their combined hair donation.
Evansville hair stylist Angie Etienne, who created the Beautiful Lengths donations with her scissors, had each donor make a half-dozen “pigtails” – each roughly ¾-inch in diameter. Beautiful Lengths requests that donated lengths of hair be eight inches long. So each donor provided six “pigtails” of at least eight inches – or 48 inches/four feet of hair.
Multiply that minimum of four feet by nine donors, and you arrive at 36 feet/12 yards.
“There are a few different organizations that use donations of human hair to make wigs for cancer patients,” Fulton said, “and I researched all of them. Beautiful Lengths was the best option, in my opinion.”
Beautiful Lengths is a partnership between Pantene® and the American Cancer Society®. Pantene works to help women grow long, strong, beautiful hair and provides the funds to turn donated hair into free, real-hair wigs for women with cancer.
To date, Pantene has donated 24,000 free real-hair wigs to the American Cancer Society’s wig banks, which distribute wigs to cancer patients across the country. You can get more information on the program online at http://pantene.com.
Following the 7:40 a.m. Sixth, seventh and eighth graders came to the parish hall that morning straight from 7:40 a.m. Mass. Fulton teaches religion in those classes, and eight of her students volunteered to be part of the effort: Sixth graders Callie Elpers, Katie Jo Hirsch and Sydney Kleimen; seventh graders Morgan Kock and Lizzy Hart; and eighth graders Kate Durchholz, Sarah Fruit and Sabrina Yamashita.
Fulton reserved front row seats for several proud, excited parents who attended.
They and others shot “before and after photos,” and also captured shots of each individual Beautiful Lengths haircut.
