It's that time of year for our annual LOCKS OF LOVE DAY at New Leaf!  Kelley Richardson, a faithful New Leaf-er and Martin MIddle School teacher in East Providence, helped to round up 10, yes 10, brave ladies to donate their long locks for  wigs for kids and women battling cancer.  

 Here are the 10 brave souls who went for the 'cut'...even Kelley and her daughter Maeve went for it (far right).

 The before...whoa! Some of these girls had some H-A-I-R...It takes an average of 6 donated ponytails to make just 1 wig. These 10 ladies probably made at least 2:o)

Another great reason for this particular group of ladies to donate their ponytails? Most of the girls have been 'untouched' by haircolor. Both organizations will accept hair that has been colored, but not bleached. These days, it's very hard to find women who DON'T color their hair!

The reason? The donated hair has to go through so much processing to make each wig, so bleached hair sometimes disintegrates. Don't fret, you can still donate the hair!  Locks of Love can still sell the 'unusable' hair to help offset the nonprofit organizations overhead costs.

A few of the makeovers from the day...

Before:

After:

Before:

After...Look how LONG it still is!

This was an amazing transformation...Cheryl, a math teacher at Martin Middle School for 25 years, was not planning on joining the girls for Locks of Love Day. Then, a few teachers were going through old yearbooks and she quietly noticed that SHE was the only person whose look had not changed one bit. It was time for a change.

Before:

After:

We wish we could have seen the kids' reactions the next day at school!!

This is little Miss Maeve, Kelley's 3 year old daughter. She wanted in on the fun too.

The before:

After:

Nothing says 'summer' than a beautiful little girl with an adorable bob.

Maeve's practicing her modeling moves...Don't we all love to swing our hair after a great cut?

Before:

After:

Three ponytails were donated from this cut! What a change...we couldn't bump Kelley out of the way to get our paparazzi shot:-)

To recap, the group before...

And AFTER!!!!!!

Kelley says the girls were feeling pretty fine walking into school the next day. We are proud to say, there were some very nervous girls but absolutely NO tears after cutting!

Thanks Kelley for rounding up the ladies to donate their locks. The girls didn't need too much coaxing...once they heard their Martin Middle School classmate was diagnosed with cancer, donating their long hair was the best way to show their support.

To find out how YOU can donate (it's time for your summer cut, right?), click on Locks of Love and Beautiful Lengths. See you soon!