UDUPI: Rotary Anns Club, Karkala in association with Yuvavahini, Karkala unit and Women Beauticians’ Association is organising a hair donation drive for cancer victims at Rotary Bal Bhavan in Karkala on February 21.
Backed by Muliya Foundation, Puttur, the drive has been organised on lines of a similar drive held in neighbouring Dakshina Kannada which saw more than 70 people, most of them women, donate their hair for a noble cause.
Ramitha Shailendra Rao, president, Rotary Anns Club who as part of world cancer day donated 15 inches of her hair from her 32-inch-long tress told reporters on Monday that this is for the first time that camp of this nature is being organised in Karkala.
Titled seeds of hope, each donor is expected to donate 15 inches of their hair.
The thickness of the hair will determine the amount of hair needed to prepare a wig that will be given to cancer patients.
Hitherto, we were collecting 8 inches of hair. But we needed more hair to prepare a wig, she said.
The Muliya Foundation is supporting the move to convert the hair donated into wigs and give it free of cost to needy patients, she said.
The Women Beauticians’ Association will take all Covid19 precautions in collecting the hair from donors in a sterilised zip lock bag and subsequently style the hair of donors to their liking free of cost, she said.
The Club has thus far received 15 registrations and donors may donate on the day of the event as well, she said.
“We already have received two requests for wigs from cancer patients in Karkala,” Ramitha said, adding such hair donations will bring a smile on faces of such patients who lose their hair during treatment. Even men who have grown long hair for this specific purpose too have come forth to donate their hair for this case, she noted.