Thursday, August 1, 2019
VOLUME 2 I ISSUE 5
MERIDIANSOURCE.CA
Wig’in out for sick kids in need TAYLOR WEAVER
EDITOR
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A good deed goes a long way. That’s a lesson 11-year-old Elektra Domes of Lloydminster learned four years ago when she decided to get a substantial hair cut and donate her luscious locks to charity. Her hair then became a wig for kids suffering from hair loss due to a number of reasons. The experience was rewarding enough that Elektra decided she would repeat history and donate her hair to Canadian organization Wigs for Kids. The hair cut couldn’t have come at a better time with the warmer weather we’ve been seeing the Border City. When doing her research for her upcoming hair cut, Elektra and her mother Trish were in talks with the Canadian Cancer Society as to where they could donate the hair. The Canadian Cancer Society provided the pair with four Canadian options of where
to donate the hair, and Elektra got to chose where to send her hair. The nice thing about choosing Wigs for Kids is Elektra knows her hair will go towards helping a young fellow Canadian in need of a wig. “I wanted to do just to donate hair for the people who needed wigs,” said Elektra. “I just wanted to be able to make people smile when they’re going through hard times.” Wigs for Kids’ sole purpose is to help children look themselves and live their lives, and with over two million children affected by hair loss, the need is there. The organization was established in 1997 by trade hairstylist Carlo Turavani as a way to keep a promise to a childhood friend who passed away due to cancer. Turavani was working with children and adults going through cancer treatment and gathering wigs for patients who lost their hair seemed like a good
way to help them feel better. Elektra also thought this was a fitting decision as her mother recently lost a close friend to cancer. “My friend was diagnosed with Stage 4 breast cancer and it had already been metastasized to other parts of her body, so she passed away this past June,” said Trish. “Elektra was hearing me talk about how my friend lost her hair because she was going through Chemo and has seen pictures of that. Even though it’s a small part of the cancer process she knows losing hair for women is a big deal, and being able to have a wig helps out in a nice way.” Fifteen to 28 ponytails are needed to produce a single wig, which costs up to $1,800 to produce. It can take 30 to 40 hours to finish a single wig, which is given to the child for free. “I grew it out for two and a half or three years for this cut and when I started growing it I knew I wanted
Taylor Weaver Meridian Source
Eleven-year-old Elekrta Domes recently donated 13 inches of hair to Wigs for Kids to be used to make wigs for children suffering from hair loss.
to donate it again,” she said. The minimum length
to donate to Wigs for Kids is 12 inches, and with Elektra’s hair
being all-natural, the 13 inches she donated will go a long way.