By Tammy Sue Struble
When Melinda Lu donated her hair to Locks of Love the first time, she was in eighth grade.
The high school next to her Indiana middle school was holding its first Locks of Love Drive and, Lu said, “I knew it was something I could do.”
She went with a classmate and had her long, dark tresses cut. Then, Lu donated her hair again when she was a sophomore. Shortly after, Lu moved from Indiana to Florida because her dad got a new job.
At Wiregrass Ranch High, where Lu attends, seniors are required to complete a final project. For her, the decision to promote Locks of Love was easy.
Locks of Love is a nonprofit organization that accepts hair or money donations. Wigs or hair prostheses are made for children in need who have lost their hair due to a medical condition.
Lu was put in touch through connections at her school with cosmetologist and Look Good Feel Better volunteer for the American Cancer Society, Mary “Mud” Lane Huckins of Zephyrhills. Lu traveled to Sarah and Company beauty shop, where Huckins works, to meet her mentor.
Lu told Mud that she was interested in doing a Locks of Love event and Mud suggested they have it at a Relay for Life event.
At the Wiregrass Ranch Relay For Life event on April 29-30 at Wiregrass Ranch High, Lu and Huckins will set up and cut hair for Locks of Love.
“Every little bit will help, and anything is always appreciated,” Lu wrote in a plea for supporters last month. “We can make a difference starting right here in our own community. Let’s unite together behind this great cause and show the world we care.”
Donors must have at least eight good inches of hair to donate. Lu intends to donate again at the end of this summer.
“I’m waiting for it to get longer, so they have more inches to work with,” she said.
The topic of cancer and helping cancer patients has been on Lu’s mind since that eighth-grade donation. As part of the her senior project, Lu did a research paper on Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia in Children.
On Valentine’s Day, Lu and Huckins fed 78 people at the Hope Lodge for cancer patients and their families near the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa. Lu is on three teams for the upcoming Wiregrass Ranch Relay For Life: Student Council Team, National Honor Society Team and Kincaid’s Team.
“It’s all about the fight against cancer,” Lu said of the Relay.
For more information on Locks of Love go to www.locksoflove.org
. To donate your hair at Lu’s event, go to the Kincaid Team campsite at the Relay For Life at Wiregrass Ranch High on April 29 from the hours of 6-10 p.m.
