Adam Prudhomme
Editor
Napanee’s Matt Thibault will shed his ‘COVID locks’ for a good cause on Sunday, buzzing his shoulder length hair and donating it to be made into a wig for cancer patients.
He’ll also gift over $5,000 to Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO), money he raised from friends and family in honour of shedding nearly four year’s worth of hair growth.
“I started growing my hair during the pandemic,” said Thibault. “Everyone kind of gets through that awkward phase when no one was looking at them and no one could get to a barber, so I decided I got through that awkward phase, maybe I’ll grow it out for a bit. As I started growing it out I started thinking ‘OK, well what can I do with this that will actually make an impact at the end?” About a year and a half ago is when I started looking into what I initiatives there are for hair donations.”
Having already established a working relationship with CHEO through his job at RE/MAX Finest Realty, he decided to see if he could raise some funds when it came time to finally lose the locks.
“A portion of every one of my real estate deals goes to CHEO, so I already had a relationship with them,” he added.
The hair will be sent to The Hairpy Shop, which specializes in making wigs for people undergoing medical treatment.
In anticipation of the big day, Thibault took to social media over the last two months to provide ongoing updates and to help push his goal of raising $5,000. In the final days leading up to the big snip, he was able to exceed his target.
“All of the community and my friends and family have really backed me up and I reached my goal of $5,000 with just under a week to go,” said Thibault. “I’m hoping to continue that momentum. Every dollar does count and every dollar goes directly to CHEO.”
Donations can still be made at https://cheofoundation.donordrive.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=donorDrive.participant&participantID=44114. A live stream of the haircut will be uploaded to that link as well.