A8

By Mark Rickard

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Morgan Clowes loves her long red hair, but she loves to help people even more. That is why the young Plaster Rock resident had her beautiful hair braided, cut and donated to a international non-profit group that specializes in providing hair pieces to other kids.

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Morgan Clowes displays her red ponytail which she donated to help other kids suffering long-term hair loss. The young Plaster Rock resident plans to donate another braid of hair in 2009.

Morgan, the eight-year-old daughter of Donna Porter and Stanley Clowes of Plaster Rock, donated a 13-inch-long braid of hair to Locks of Love recently.

"She felt it was a something nice to do," her mom Donna said. "Her uncle had cancer, and she had heard about Locks of Love."

Morgan took about one year to grow her hair to the required length and Trinda Rioux, a hairstylist at Klassy Kuts, helped braid and cut the hair. Now with her own locks in much shorter cut, her mother reports she is growing her hair for another donation.

"She was quite excited to do it and finally get the right length so she could do it," Donna reported. "She plans on growing her hair out again and doing it again."

The proud mom said it was great to see her daughter perform such a selfless act.

"She thought of someone else instead of herself, which is great," she commented.

Locks of Love is a public non-profit organization that provides hairpieces to financially disadvantaged children in the United States and Canada under age 18 suffering from long-term medical hair loss. The organization fills a unique need for children by using donated hair to create the highest quality hair prosthetics.

"Most of the children helped by Locks of Love have lost their hair due to a medical condition called alopecia areata, which has no known cause or cure. The prostheses we provide help to restore their self-esteem and their confidence, enabling them to face the world and their peers," the Locks of Love website stated.

Locks of Love also provides synthetic hairpieces to children suffering from short-term hair loss such as chemotherapy.