Two Richmond Hill girls gave the gift of hair on Wednesday.
Emily Fischer, 12, and her 7-year-old sister Rachel had their long brown ponytails cut off to be donated to Locks of Love, an organization that provides wigs to children who have lost their hair due to an illness.
Emily said she was inspired to donate her hair by a family member. She also said she thought short hair would be a nice look for the summer months.
"I got the idea from my cousin who had cancer when she was a child," Emily said. "And I didn’t want to have long hair for the summer."
Emily wasn’t nervous as stylist Ann Hanks from My Grandfather’s Place in Richmond Hill began to cut her long hair. Holding the ponytail afterwards she smiled.
"My head feels lighter," she said.Rachel said, like her sister, that she wasn’t nervous either about having her hair cut.
"I won’t miss my long hair," she said.
The girls’ mother, Karen Fischer, said she was glad to see her daughters have their hair cut to go to a good cause.
"They’ve had long hair for years," she said. "It’s nice to have it cut and to know they’re helping other kids."
Last week, Richmond Hill resident Ben Botelho had his head shaved and his hair donated to Locks of Love on his 17th birthday.
A survivor of B-cell lymphoma, Botelho had his hair cut at an assembly at Richmond Hill High School. He said he donated his hair because he felt it was a way he could give back.
"It has a lot to do with my experience of being in the hospital," he said. "It’s really something little but something I thought was right to do."
According to their web site, Locks of Love is a non-profit organization that provides hairpieces to financially disadvantaged children under the age of 18 who are suffering from hair loss due to a medical illness in an attempt to restore the child’s self-esteem and confidence.