Catherine has been growing her hair since her first donation back in June 2008 and it will be long enough to do it again next year. That means there will be a Catherine’s Pretty Ponytails Campaign #3 in May or June 2010! I and her 4 year old sister are hoping that our hair will be long enough in time too! If you are in the Ottawa, Ontario area and would like to join us on the big day (date to be determined but will probably on a Sunday in June near Catherine’s birthday since this idea was originally a birthday wish to help those with cancer) you can contact us at ponytailscampaign@rogers.com. If you are not from the area but would like to donate anyway all the info is on the cancer.ca website under the “hair donations” section. The website will give you hair requirements, how to prepare the hair and where you can mail it to in your area. It takes UP TO 12 hair donations to make one wig for a person who has lost their hair due to cancer! Hope you can help either by donating or by telling people about hair donations. It’s something ANYONE can do, our youngest hair donor this year was only 4 years old, we had a boy and 4 men join us too!

“Catherine’s Pretty Ponytails 2- Big sis takes over!” surpassed what I thought was possible by a long shot. Between the hair donation/fundraiser and the Boston Pizza event Kimberly and her teams’ efforts yielded $15, 988 for the Canadian Cancer Society and gathered 63 ponytails for wigs for cancer patients. The young girls/women/men and young boy who participated by donating their hair and collecting pledges were absolutely outstanding!  They heard of this campaign, joined and ran with it. They managed to rank #2 in all of Ontario for on-line team fundraisers!  How shocking and impressive is that?! ? The youngest hair donor was 4 years old…just goes to show that anyone can do this, no matter your age or gender! You can make a difference and it feels so good!

Between the 2 campaigns, (the original led by Catherine and this years led by big sis and in a matter of only one year from June 22nd, 2008 to June 22, 2009) there is a total of 110 ponytails for wigs and $21,546 for the Cancer Society! Who knew this idea/campaign would have reached such proportions! It hit a chord with so many! Most of the hair donors/families are going through what we are and donating hair makes you feel that you are doing something and it helps to alleviate the feeling  that you can’t help your family member or friend who has cancer. It is empowering and it makes you realize  that you are not alone.

Although Catherine started this with the simple words “mom, I want to donate my hair for cancer patients” she certainly did not do this on her own! There are so many people to thank! We want to thank Regal Hair Design and Boston Pizza Orleans for hosting our events. You are terrific and we couldn’t have done this without you! I bet the hair donors are glad too that I wasn’t cutting their hair! We want to thank the companies who provided the campaign with services or product like The East Orleans Star local paper for the advertising, Sure Print and Graphics for the flyers and printed material, Loeb Cumberland Market who provided all the food and food supplies, the girls school for supplying the tables, chairs, canopies and portable stage. LynneArt facepainting for turning all the hair donors into walking works of art, caricatures and clowns for entertaining the crowd, Micpo who is multi-talented and enjoyed by young and old, our local TV anchor Max for all the support and promo, also all the companies who provided silent auction prizes and our friends and family and community who have been so terrific and supportive. We really appreciate it! It means so much to our family! We feel very blessed to have so many amazing people in our life!

Kimberly has always had a generous heart and she always helps me out. I wish she could have done it last year with me but her hair wasn’t long enough…I’m glad she’s doing it this year! I was so surprised that we got 47 hair donations and  raised $5558.12 for the Canadian Cancer Society! and Kimberly is going to add to it! Thanks sis!

We’re doing it again! On Sunday, May 24th, we are holding another hair donation and raising money to help cancer patients.

Last year, with the generous support of her school and community, Catherine collected 47 hair donations and raised over $5,500! This year, her big sister Kimberly has taken over in hopes of adding to her sister’s tremendous success.

Help Kimberly (and Catherine, too!) to help others by joining us from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. on Sunday May 24th. If you would like to donate your hair and have at least 20.5 cm of untreated hair, Jody Sara and the team at Regal Hair Design will cut and style your hair for free.

Or, you can make a donation to the Canadian Cancer Society and help make cancer history!

On Monday September 29th, Boston Pizza Orleans at 3884 Innes Rd is donating 10% of all food sales between 5 and 9 p.m. that night to Catherine’s Pretty Ponytails Campaign for the Canadian Cancer Society! There will be Lionel their mascot, a magician, a silent auction and a very special guest from CTV news! We are so pleased and grateful that Boston Pizza Orleans is helping us out with this fundraiser! Come out with your family and friends have a good time, enjoy terrific food in support of a good cause!

Look what one little idea from a young girl (with a lot of generous peoples help) has become! Amazing! Thank you all so much!

What a great group of girls! The bonus about this is I got to meet many wonderful people and have created some new friendships…you can never have too many of those!
Check this out: http://www.flickr.com/photos/higginson/sets/72157605814740639

To date (June 11th) we have 12 hair donations. That is wonderful but we are hoping/expecting more will join us. CFRA broadcast an interview with Catherine this morning and Oldies 1310 (they contacted us!!!) will be broadcasting an interview and plugging the event the week before the 22nd.

We have also raised over $300 with on-line donations and cheques. Many have said (by e-mail or in person) they will be there and others that couldn’t make it are donating on line. We are really excited and we hope you will join us and help us in whatever you can!!

It is a such great cause and Catherine is such a sweet little girl! We are so proud of her!

Catherine’s campaign is gaining momemtum and the word is getting out. You can check out the article…http://www.eastottawa.ca/article-216093-Local-youngster-collects-hair-for-cancer.html

This is Catherine and Lizzie.

 Catherine often plays dress up with her 3 year old sister (who had to be cropped out of the picture due to the ridiculous face she was making!).

Catherine really enjoyed the peacefulness of the beach in Vancouver last summer. What a great holiday that was!

The weather was really good while we were there too.