Annie Jablonski There was no school fundraiser June 10 that required 9-year-old Annie Jablonski to cut her hair; the Veteran’s Memorial Middle School student did it out of her own sense of obligation to sick kids her age.
“I wanted to help kids who don’t have any hair,” said Annie, who will enter the fifth grade come September. “Some people are mean and they make fun of them.”
About a year ago, Annie was watching “Good Morning, America” with her mom, Ann Jablonski, when the morning talk show featured a spot on Locks of Love, Annie said.
Annie, whose hair for years has never been shorter than the small of her back, decided to donate 14 inches of hair to Locks of Love.
The nonprofit organization provides wigs to financially disadvantaged children with long-term medical hair loss.
Although it took Annie over a year to muster the courage to finally chop off her hair, she said loves the final product.
“I feel a lot lighter,” she said.
Shortly after she cut her locks, which are now secured in a sealed plastic bag the Jablonskis must mail off to Locks of Love, Annie and her mother met a woman at a local deli who overheard Annie talking about her new haircut and what she did with her retired ponytail.
The woman had just recently experienced the loss of a 13-year-old boy, a family friend, to cancer, Ann said.
“This lady standing next to me told Annie that it is so wonderful what she did,” Ann said. “She thanked Annie for doing that for all the kids who need it. When we left the checkout, she was on cloud nine.”
Annie would again like to donate her now-shoulder length hair once it grows out.
“But I think I’ll let it stay like this for a little while,” she said.
– Colleen Lutolf