I came up with the name BraidShare when I was 6 years old and it stuck. I was first inspired to donate my hair at the age of 6 while watching my favourite TV show, Zoom. On the show, I watched a vignette of a girl cutting and donating her hair to make a wig. This lead to a family discussion about cancer and why it is important for people to donate their hair. Two years later, when I was 8, I did m
y first "Hair Harvest," donating 12 inches of my hair. Three years later, in 2005, I was ready to donate my hair again. This time, I wanted to do some fundraising as well. My sister, Amanda (who had donated her hair with me the first time along with our mom), and I came across the Kids Cancer Care Foundation of Alberta's Camp Kindle. Camp Kindle is a special camp for kids and their siblings who have been touched by cancer. The tuition of the camp is covered 100% by donating, so their families don't have a to pay anything. Summer camp has always been (and still is) a favourite part of our year, and we believe that even if you are sick or your family is going through a rough time, you should still get to have fun and go to camp. So, together we crocheted and sold bookmarks that looked like braids. We raised $500, enough to send a kid to camp, and donated our hair again. This time I donated 21.5 inches, and Amanda donated 18 inches. We didn't stop there. The following year, the cost to send a kid to camp went up to $900. We needed to do more than selling bookmarks, so we decided to organize a craft fair as a fundraiser. All of the money from renting vendor tables went to the KCCFA. This was extremely successful and we organized our fundraiser holiday craft fair for 4 years. In 2007, we donated our hair again (15 inches for me, 12 inches for Amanda), but this time we were joined by our brother, Dennis, who participated in the Shave Your Lid for a Kid program. To date, the three of us have raised over $10,000 for Camp Kindle. On Wednesday, April 18th, I will be doing my fourth hair harvest. I want to raise $1000 to send another kid to camp. Pledge link soon to come :)
