| She spares precious hair for Locks of Love |
By: Terri McMillen
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Posted: Wednesday, July 28, 2010 4:11 pm
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Brianna Baker is the 12 year-old daughter of Ken and Heidi Baker. Brianna has never had a haircut and made a big decision last week to donate her hair to Locks Of Love.
“Brianna has had trims over the years, an inch here or two inches there but never a haircut with a new style,” said Heidi. “I saw an advertisement in the paper about the Blue Earth County Relay For Life and they were looking for Locks Of Love donors. Brianna has talked about donating her hair to this organization in the past so I asked if she’d be interested in donating her hair at this event.”
The Bakers have been Relay For Life supporters for years.
“Ken lost both of his parents to cancer,” said Heidi. “His mother, Marge to Leukemia in 1988 and his dad, Jim six months later to colon cancer. The girls never knew their Baker grandparents. When we decided to get involved with Relay For Life we decided to join The Laker team which is a group of families living around the lakes in the Cleveland area. This year our team reached the “Gold” level raising right around $7,500.”
Baker went on to say, I thought it would be nice to check out another county’s relay to see what they do differently. They really had some fun ideas. The teams involved each had a theme and most of their camps were decorated with that theme. Some of the teams were selling different items to help their team raise additional money. There was a walking taco team, where you could purchase taco’s-in-a-bag, one team was selling smores, and another team sold cotton candy. As you walked around their “track” it was like you were on an adventure and just not sure what you’d find as you rounded the next corner. What was nice about their relay is they announced each of the survivors by name and told the crowd what type of cancer the survivor had and how long they have been cancer free or in remission. Each survivor was given a number when they registered so they knew they would be announced fifth or twenty-fifth. The Le Sueur County Relay had a much bigger selection of silent auction items to bid on.”
Baker took friends along for support.
“When mom mentioned the relay and they were looking for Locks of Love donations I just wasn’t sure I was ready to part with my hair,” said Brianna. “I talked it over with two of my best friends, Taylor Johnson and Allie Rogers and decided to have my hair cut and donate it. I thought it would be nice to donate my hair for a child or teenager fighting cancer who had loss their hair because of the treatments they’ve had to under go. Both Taylor and Allie were with me as well as my grandma Compart and mom. The technician cutting my hair said I have a very unique hair color and would be making someone very very happy. My hair feels very different. . . lighter. I can flop my hair around more. It is still down to my shoulders so I can still wear pigtails or put it in a short ponytail.”
If you’d like more information on Locks Of Love and how to make a donation you can go to their website at www.locksoflove.org or email them at; info@locksoflove.org.
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