July 6, 2006

Hair raising

Wayne child donates locks

Emmalee Larsen said she’s donating her hair to Wigs 4 Kids because she “wants to help kids feel pretty.”

By the time this paper hits the streets, Emmalee Larsen of Wayne will look a lot different.

The nearly-waist length brown locks that she’s cultivated for the past two years will be gone, on their way to help someone she may not have even met.

Larsen, who is well on her way to her 7th birthday, is taking part in the Wigs 4 Kids program, which helps younger cancer patients with their self-esteem.

“I wanted kids to feel pretty,” she said.

Larsen has helped in the cause in the past, too, according to her mother, Heather. She first got interested in it when a friend of her mother’s underwent cancer treatment a couple of years ago that resulted in hair loss.

In June of 2004, Emmalee donated 12 inches of her hair to the Locks of Love organization, her mother said. She wasn’t too thrilled with the follow up from that organization, though.

“They couldn’t even verify if they received our donation,” Heather Larsen said. “I was very upset.”

Emmalee still wanted to help out, though, and the youngster’s hair was growing quickly. An Internet search turned up the Wigs 4 Kids organization—it’s a smaller charity, based in St. Clair Shores, that was started by Maggie Varney and the staff of Sophistic-cuts, a hair salon.

“They only make wigs for kids in Michigan,” Heather Larsen said.

Larsen said she checked out the 501©3 organization on their web site, www.wigs4kids.org, and soon had a package that showed before and after pictures of donation recipients as well as all the information they needed to get involved.

Donors receive a bevy of thank yous for getting involved—even Christmas cards.

“It’s so great that they keep track of all that,” she said.
That was enough for Larsen and Emmalee, who attends Patchin Elementary School and is known as ‘Freddie’ by her friends and family because of her fondness for one of the main characters in Scooby Doo.

About two years after her first donation, she was set to travel to the salon and donate another 14 inches of hair.

The 6-year-old has helped out in other areas in the past, too. When a family member was sent to Iraq, she sent Christmas presents overseas. The story was highlighted on the CBS News and, although no names were mentioned, the Larsen family knew they had had a personal impact.

“We recognized the wrapping paper,” Heather Larsen said. “It was so cool.”

“She’s really a good kid.”

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