TOLEDO—Twenty-seven Toledo St. Ursula Academy (SUA) students and two teachers had their hair cut at the school as part of its Lenten “Locks of Love” project.

Camelot Salon owner Dianne Babiuch, bottom right, with salon stylists and many of the Toledo St. Ursula Academy students with their new haircuts and the bag of ponytails that was donated to “Locks of Love.”  (Photo courtesy of St. Ursula Academy)

Stylists from Camelot Salon in Holland donated their time and talent to chop the students’ and teachers’ locks to help children who suffer from long-term medical hair loss.

Camelot Salon has been involved with this Lenten project at SUA since 2005. Dianne Babiuch, owner of Camelot Salon, was inspired by her daughter, Jessica, to establish the partnership.

“My daughter started the whole idea; when Locks of Love was mentioned as an idea to do for Lenten Service projects,” says Ms. Babiuch. “She [Jessica] immediately said, ‘My mom can do that!’ So we started with her class in ’05 and have been doing it every year since.”

Locks of Love is a public, nonprofit organization that provides hairpieces to financially disadvantaged children under age 18 in the United States and Canada who suffer from long-term medical hair loss from any diagnosis. The donated hair is used to create the highest quality hair prosthetics for the children. The prostheses help to restore the children’s self-esteem and their confidence, according to the organization.

St. Ursula hosted the “Locks of Love” event as part of its Lenten service projects. Other events included a canned food drive; a drive to collect paper products, bathroom and cleaning supplies and personal items for Bethany House residents; and a Fair Trade Show in which students were able to purchase merchandise from several fair trade organizations.