The day she, her mother and two sisters all went together to get their hair cut. She’ll remember it because it was her first haircut. What she’ll later come to understand is the significance of that day.

The stylists at the cosmetology salon at Dodge City Community College were quickly mobilized when Charla Wenzl and her daughters, Shannon, 8, Morgan, 6, and Tegan, 3, stopped by to "make a donation" on June 7. By the time the scissors came to a rest, more than 40 inches of hair was ready to be packaged and shipped to Locks of Love.

The idea of growing out their hair and donating it began last summer when Shannon was talking to a neighbor girl who donated her hair.

"Shannon came home and was talking about it," recalled Charla. "I asked her if that is something she wanted to do. When she said she wanted to help someone who didn’t have hair, I decided I’d do it with her. It soon became a family project, and we all grew our hair out."

Locks of Love is a not-for profit organization that provides hairpieces to financially disadvantaged children with medical hair loss. The organization, which began in 1997, has helped more than 1,100 children since its first year of operation. Children comprise over 80 percent of the donors, making it a charity where children have the opportunity to help other children.

Most of the hair that’s donated to Locks of Love goes to help children who lost their hair from alpceia areata, a disease that affects more than 2.2 million children in the United States and causes the body to become allergic to its own hair. The organization also makes wigs for children who have lost their hair because of other diseases, burns or animal attacks.

Locks of Love asks that a donated ponytail be at least 10 inches long. Six to 10 ponytails go into manufacturing one hairpiece. Donors provide the hair, volunteers staff the office, and the manufacturer hand-assembles each piece, which requires approximately four months. Most hair salons across the country are aware of the program.