Often the most valuable gifts cost nothing to give and come straight from the heart. This was the lesson for students at Dresden Elementary School as they recently witnessed a teacher and two classmates donate their long locks to the Children with Hair Loss (CWHL) charity.
In keeping with Dresden’s year-long theme “Anyone Can Be a Hero. It All Starts with Me,” fifth grader Juliana Rabban, fourth grader Edie Pilarski and teacher Reem Bathish each donated at least eight inches of their hair to be made into wigs for children with hair loss from illness or other conditions. Edie’s sister Veronica Pilarski, an eighth grader at Bemis Junior High School, was also a donor.
According to Ms. Bathish, a seven-time donor, CWHL was chosen because it is a Michigan nonprofit organization that provides hairpieces and related services at no charge to children in need.
Repeat donor Edie said she is happy she can help “sick children feel better.”
For Juliana, who came to the United States with her family 18 months ago from Iraq, donating her hair – which she said had never been cut – was a way to help others in the same spirit as people such as Bathish, who is fluent in Arabic, helped her acclimate to her new country.
Professional hairstylist Becky Towinski, whose younger siblings attend Dresden, volunteered to refine the donors’ new haircuts – at no cost, of course.
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