HELENA — Many people choose to give back each year, whether it be donating their time, goods or money. Abbey Begger is doing all three.
On Wednesday at Emerald Salon, Begger propped herself up in a chair while a stylist cut three long sections of hair to be donated to Maggie's Wigs 4 Kids of Michigan. Whitley Begger, Abbey's mother, said her daughter had been wanting a haircut for a few days and Whitley posed the idea to Abbey about donating her hair.
"She's been wanting her hair cut for a little while, and so we booked her hair cut, and over the weekend, I told her, "You know? I think you'd have enough length to donate if you want to look into that?" and she did," said Whitley. "We just Googled a couple of the charities and found one we liked."
Whitley said she and Abbey chose to go with this non-profit because of what they do for families that will receive the wigs.
"They donate the entire wig to the child, you know, no expense to the family. Whereas other, you know, organizations might charge the family something. We liked the idea that it was just a gift to the family," said Whitley.
Alongside the hair donation, the Begger family pondered the idea of a monetary donation, and what they received from the community was more than they could have asked for.
"When we decided that we wanted to donate the hair, we thought "You know, sometimes the world needs a feel-good story," so we just posted it to our Facebook that 'Abbey's donating hair, this organization also accepts monetary donations. If anyone would be interested,' like our family and friends. And we woke up the next morning with $1,700 on our Venmo account," said Whitley with a smile and laugh.
Whitley told MTN that as of Wednesday at 4 p.m. they received $2,000 to donate to the non-profit, enough to sponsor two children's wigs per Whitley.
Wednesday marked the first time that Abbey chose to donate her hair, and Whitley believes this is something she could see her daughter again in the future.
"I can definitely see her doing it over and over."