When Molly Bello was in second grade, her hair was one of her most noticeable features, with dark brown locks hanging healthy and thick to the middle of her back. One day she went into class and announced that her hair was getting cut and ten inches was going to be donated to Locks of Love. | | RSCS fourth grader Molly Bello shows the postcard she received from Locks of Love in Florida, thanking her for her hair donation. The card reads “Molly went to great lengths to help a child.” (Photo by Bruce Watson) | | Recently, she received an acknowledgement and thank you for her gift of helping other kids smile again- for the second time in her short life.Last week, sitting on the hallway stairs by her classroom, sporting her newest “doo,” Molly showed off a Locks for Love thank-you card that read, “Molly went to great lengths to help a child.” Now a fourth grader at Richfield Springs Central School (RSCS), Molly, daughter of Cathy Barraco and Ed Bello, has once again had ten inches of her hair cut off by her aunt, Mary Beth McMann. The ten inches of her hair that was recently removed got sent to the national headquarters for Locks of Love in West Palm Beach, Florida. With that decision, Molly and her hair donation will help restore the self-esteem and confidence of at least one child in the world. Being young and bald from chemotherapy or from a condition called alopecia areata gets a lot of attention from their peers. This organization was created to help children deal with the added trauma of being so different. Locks of Love is a non-profit organization that provides hairpieces and wigs to disadvantaged children under 18 years of age, living in the United States and Canada, who suffer from long-term medical hair loss. Cancer survivors, victims of head trauma such as burns, and children with alopecia, which has no known cure, will benefit from Molly’s donation. “You made a difference,” read the thank you card she received. For now, she’s sporting a short and sassy hairstyle and a very wide smile as a result of her decision to donate her hair two times in her young life. When asked if she would donate her hair again in sixth grade, two years from now, she hesitated and said she is really not sure. “I like having long hair,” she noted. Bruce Watson is a freelance writer for The Mercury and currently substitutes for ODY. He is a recent retiree of RSCS.
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