Pima Butte students losing locks, going bald for charity

“Show you care. Cut your hair,” proclaimed the poster on the wall at Pima Butte Elementary School for a previous Locks of Love event.  Wednesday the school will host its 4th annual Locks of Love event for charity. This year the boys can also get involved through Bald for Bucks.

The school’s female students will be able to have eight to ten inches of their hair cut off and bundled into a ponytail to send to Locks of Love. That organization combines six to 10 such ponytails to make a hairpiece for a needy child.

Recipients are children who have suffered severe scalp burns or endured radiation treatments for cancer; however, the majority of recipients suffer from an autoimmune condition called alopecia areata, which has no known cure.  While cancer patients can regrow their hair, alopecia areata victims cannot ever do so.

Locks of Love began in 1998 and has helped over 2,000 children, both boys and girls, in all 50 states and Canada. The organization provides free hairpieces to financially disadvantaged children 18 and younger; families who are able to pay a small amount are charged on a sliding scale based on income.

The school holds the Locks of Love event once a year in conjunction with a character program for students; this year’s Locks of Love coordinator is Shannon Hilsinger.

This is the first year for Bald for Bucks, which supports the Roswell Cancer Institute in Buffalo, N.Y. Now the boys can get involved, going bald, and Pima Butte Principal Matt Montoya will be one of the first in line to get his head shaved.

The school has already raised about $1,700 between a coin drive and donations, and donations will be accepted until March 3. 

All are welcome to come out to the event, but school staff request that anyone interested in donating hair call in advance.

If You Go:

What: Locks of Love/ Bald for Bucks assembly
When: 8:30 a.m. on Wednesday, March 3
Where: Pima Butte Elementary, 42202 W. Rancho El Dorado Parkway
For information or to donate: 520-568-7152

Photo by Joyce Hollis