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A $400 haircut aimed at helping sick children

By Mary Ellen Zangara Special Writer
   In the weeks since 15-year-old Nick Kita announced his plan to let the highest bidder cut his long hair, he’s heard a lot of ideas for his haircut.
   ”I heard some horrifying things,” he said.
   But fortunately for Nick, calmer heads prevailed in the bidding for the Sept. 2 charity fundraising event, with resident Barbara Panfile winning the right.
   ”I really thought I was going to get my head shaved, but the person that won only wanted Mary (Hair House owner Mary Tabbit) to cut it a certain way,” the Manville High School sophomore said. “She didn’t want to give me the whole military look that everyone was waiting for.”
   Ms. Panfile joined Nick and his father, Bob Kita, at the salon to help direct the cutting.
   ”His new haircut is terrific — you can see his eyes and his face and see how handsome he is,” she said.
   At the final tally, Nick raised $400 to donate to Locks of Love, the Florida-based charity which provides wigs made from donated hair to children suffering from hair loss due to medical treatments or diseases, such as alopecia.
   Ms. Tabbit and five others took turns shearing Nick’s hair — which made six ponytails from his long blonde hair to send to Locks of Love in addition to the cash.
   ”Guys can actually donate more ponytails than girls unless a young girl wants to go really, really short,” Ms. Tabbit said. “We usually get one or two out of one person — that’s the most we have gotten here, six ponytails.”
   She added the previous record was four, and she added Nick’s willingness to allow any kind of haircut to maximize the donation was helpful.
   Since announcing his plan to raise the money in August, Nick received bids from “70 or 80” people, he said. He said he’d hoped to raise more money, and thinks if he’d done it during the school year instead of the summer he may have been able to raise more.
   ”I thought the whole (money) raising part would be easier, thinking people would want to cut my hair. It was hard,” he said. “I actually had to work for the money I raised harder than I thought it would be.”
   Responses from his family and friends have been very positive — some even said he looked taller.
   Parishioners at St. Peter and Paul Church didn’t recognize him at Sunday’s services, and on the first day of school his classmates didn’t recognize him until his name was called out in class. Some said they thought he was a new student.
   ”It was a fun experience. It was pretty cool that people really did want to cut my hair,” said Nick.
   But, he added, “I finally got the haircut and it feels a lot nicer.”