The Kindest Cut Of All

To know Tricia Cunningham, the president of the , is to know her hair.

It is red. It reaches all the way down her back. It is part of her personality.

Knowing this makes Cunningham’s current fundraising efforts on behalf of and the that much more meaningful. Because Cunningham is going to cut her hair, and donate it to an organization that makes wigs for cancer patients, but she is going even farther than that.

Here is the letter she sent out late last year to her friends and family:

I am reaching out to you today because I am planning on cutting my hair and I intend to donate it... but I did not want to leave it at just that. I figured I could take it a step further, so I am going to raise funds for two important organizations, Hospice of Southeastern CT and the Terri Brodeur Breast Cancer Foundation. My goal is to raise $5,000. Once I raise $5,000 I will cut my hair, but not until I meet that goal. Please help me because these are terrific organizations and my hair is getting unmanageable.

Think of it as a hair-a-thon as opposed to a walk-a-thon and you can donate a certain amount per inch rather than per mile.

Thank you all for your support, I truly appreciate it!

Tricia

A little more about Hospice of Southeastern Connecticut: It provides care in the home and often in skilled nursing facilities for those facing the end of their life, regardless of age, disease or inability to pay. The organization also provides bereavement services for families in New London County free of charge, regardless of whether or not the death occurred under hospice care.

And, a little bit about Terri Brodeur Breast Cancer Foundation: The purpose of the Terri Brodeur Breast Cancer Foundation (TBBCF) is to raise funds to support cutting edge research aimed at eradicating all types of breast cancer. Through our efforts over the past five years, TBBCF has had the honor of funding promising clinical and preclinical researchers in cutting-edge breast cancer research. Of the dozens of proposals that have been submitted to TBBCF to date, eighteen $100,000 grants totaling $1,800,000 have been awarded to researchers at some of the most prominent oncology research centers in the world such as Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Memorial Sloan-Kettering and Cold Spring Harbor Laboratories.

The last time she had a "real" haircut was more than five years ago, Cunningham said. She gets a trim every five or six months at Hair Unique.

Cunningham will celebrate a birthday this month, and she has asked those in her life not to give her presents, but rather to donate toward her goal. If you would like to help, you can donate directly to Hospice via this link.

Or to donate to the Terri Brodeur Breast Cancer Foundation, please mail the donation to me with the check made payable to the Terri Brodeur Breast Cancer Foundation. 

Mail to: Tricia Cunningham, P.O. Box 143, Mystic, CT 06355