Community
Left: Mikki Gordon and
her cousin Celia Shecter
before their haircuts.
Stephanie Horwitz
gets ready for her
haircut.
Left: Stephanie Horwitz gets ready
to hand over her ponytail to her
grandparents, Berta and Philip
Wesler.
Inset: Berta Wesler delivers her
granddaughter Stephanie Horwitzs
ponytail to Mary More at
Locks of Love.
Mikki Gordon and Celia Shecter get ready
to mail their braids.
SHELLI LIEBMAN DORFMAN
Staff Writer
A
Rana Zdrojewski shows off her newly cut
ponytail
r information on monetary or hair
nations, contact Locks of Love, toll
ee at (888) 896-1588, or access the
Web site at:
www.locksoflove.com
141(
8/31
2001
38
t least four of the ponytails
recently delivered to Locks of
Love, a charity that creates
hairpieces for children with
medical hair loss, were "home-grown."
Inspired by a/elvish News story about
a teen who cut her long mane to donate
hair to the Florida-based organization,
others decided to do the same.
Twelve-year-old Rana Zdrojewski of
Farmington Hills originally planned to
just get a trim at Salon Bellissima in
West Bloomfield before her Aug. 19
bat mitzvah. By the time her mom Alisa
made the appointment, Rana had
decided she would cut at least the 10
inches required by Locks of Love to be
Local girls snip their
locks to benefit
children with hair loss.
included in the hairpieces.
Cousins 10-year-old Celia Shecter of
Farmington Hills and 9-year-old Mikki
Gordon of Oak Park, made back-to-
back appointments at Strandz in West
Bloomfield. "My niece wanted to cur
her hair for a couple of years," says
Kitty Shecter, Celia's mom. "When she
saw the article about the haircut, she
decided to do it, too, and my daughter
decided to join her." After the two used
a tape measure to see how they would
look with different hair lengths, Celia
ended up having 11 inches cut, while
Mikki cut 12 inches.
"A woman in the shop where the
girls had their haircuts told them she
once lost her hair," Kitty Shecter says.
"She told them what a wonderful mitz-
vah they were doing."
The girls put their braided donations
in a single envelope and sent it off.
Stephanie Horwitz's ponytail arrived
at Locks of Love in a more personal
way, hand-delivered by her grandpar-
ents, Berta and Philip Wesler of Lake
Worth, Ha.
Following a visit to 10-year-old
Stephanie's West Bloomfield home, the
Weslers took the plastic bag holding
Stephanie's hair to the Locks of Love
office in Palm Springs, Fla., just down
the street from their synagogue.
Stephanie's mom, Gina says, "She
was very sensitive to this issue" after
watching her aunt and a close family
friend lose their hair to cancer.
Gina Horwitz says after the cut,
Stephanie told her, "I still have lots of
hair arid it's a mitzvah to do this." E