A smart and caring little girl from Cloverdale is proof you’re never too little to make a big impact on someone else’s life.
Katie Stubbings was just four-and-a-half when she sat down for her very first hair cut, which is a bit later than most kids.
She refused to have it cut until her locks had grown all the way past her waist – and long enough to donate to Angel Hair For Kids, a non-profit organization that makes and distributes wigs to children who have lost their hair to illness.
She’d been inspired to donate her hair by her late aunt Val, who ultimately lost her battle with the disease before Katie was even born.
That first haircut was three years ago, and she’s been growing it out ever since. Finally, last week, almost to the day, Katie, now aged 7-and-a-half, went back to the sal
on.
And, just like the first time, she’s donating her hair.
It took stylist Karen Pehlke of Karen’s Korner salon about an hour to shear off a lengthy pony tail – reputed to be 14 inches long and glittering with golden, sun-kissed highlights – and set Katie up with a brand-new ‘do.
Katie’s parents, Tammy and Ryan, couldn’t be more proud of their little girl.
“Whenever I get a bit teary, Katie says, ‘It’s just hair. It will grow back,’” Tammy told The Reporter.
“This foundation really fits Katie’s reason for donating because she keeps telling us that she wants other kids to be happy,” she said. “So, we are equally happy and supportive of her decision.”
Even Katie’s twin brother, Evan (pictured), had to admit he was impressed, telling mom on the ride home, “He thinks Katie is cute and he’s proud of her too,” according to Tammy, who works as a vice-principal at Mary Jane Shannon Elementary School.
Both children attend Adams Road Elementary School.
Angel Hair for Kids, a program of A Child’s Voice Foundation, provides wigs for financially disadvantaged children in Canada who have lost their hair due to medial conditions or treatments, from cancer to alopecia, or burns.
– Visit www.acvf.ca/index.php/our-programs/angel-hair-for-kids for more information.
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