Kennedy aids friend’s charitable venture by donating hair

LYNN – Mayor Judith Flanagan Kennedy only winced once when her long chestnut hair was cut short, but she shook it off because she was sure it was shorn for a good cause.”My friend had a 50th birthday wish,” she said, sitting in a salon chair at Wind n’ Waves in Marblehead. “She wanted to collect enough hair for 50 wigs for children ? and her birthday is Nov. 6 so I knew I had to cut it by then.”Salon owner Edward Gingle put Kennedy’s hair in pigtails and, with a couple of snips, lopped off eight inches from each side of her head.”I haven’t had my hair short in at least 16 years,” Kennedy said.Peabody resident Jean Ahearn said she was 48 when she decided she wanted to make a statement with her 50th birthday. She set a goal to grow her hair for two years then cut and donate to Children with Hairloss, a Michigan-based organization she has given hair to in the past.She likes the organization because they provide wigs to children free of charge.”But since it was the big 5-0, I wanted to do a little more than just the one donation,” she said. “I thought perhaps I could get 50 other people to donate too, but since it takes eight to 10 donations just to make one wig, decided I wanted to do even more.”Ahearn set the lofty goal of collecting enough hair for 50 wigs, which meant she needed roughly 450 donors. She not only made her goal eight months early, she surpassed it, collecting enough hair for 67 wigs. Saturday she held a fundraiser in lieu of a birthday party and presented the hair to Children With Hairloss.Ahearn said she was floored by the support she received after her son established a website for her and she created a Facebook page. Several salons cut hair being donated for free, women who never cut their hair gave it up and some men grew their hair out just to donate it, she said.”One woman canceled her big birthday party and held a hair cutting party instead,” she said. “Several moms used this project as a way to help teach their child about appreciating what you have and helping those who don’t.”There were emotional stories as well, Ahearn said. There were women who donated hair in memory of a cancer victim, a mother and daughter who donated their hair because the daughter was about to lose her hair to cancer treatments, and another woman who said she wanted to do one last good deed before she died, Ahearn said.Ahearn said the project and the fundraiser, which will include raffle prizes provided by local businesses, took a lot of time, but she has no regrets.”I am so glad that I took this on,” she said. “I have seen firsthand how good people are and how much they want to help. I have met some amazing people and heard many inspiring stories.”As I think it is in most cases, when you give of yourself to someone else, you get so much more in return.”Kennedy said she was honored to help her friend who did so much for others. She also drew inspiration from her teenaged daughter, Mia, who also cut her hair short for Ahearn’s cause.”If she can do it I can do it,” Kennedy said.”They say, ‘When life gives you lemons, make lemonade,'” Ahearn said. “Well, I guess you could say that in this case, life gave me a few gray hairs, and I, with the help of many others, made 67 kids in need smile.”Chris Stevens can be reached at [email protected].