A seven-year-old Streetly girl has donated her hair to a charity that makes wigs for youngsters with cancer – and raised more than £1200 in the process.
Kimran Bhathal decided to get her hair cut after growing it long during lockdown earlier this year – and when a schoolfriend told her she had donated her hair to the Little Princess Trust, Kimran was keen to do the same.
Her mum Neeta, aged 35, said: “She’d already asked me why some little children have to wear wigs and when I told her why she wanted to do something to help.
We found out from the Little Princess Trust that it costs about £550 for each wig to be made and Kimran asked if we could raise some money as well.
We set up a JustGiving page and expected just family and a few close friends to donate some money, but once I mentioned it on a parents’ WhatsApp group, she raised £557 in just two hours.”
Buoyed by her success, Kimran redoubled her efforts and set her targets at £1200, which would buy two wigs at the Little Princess Trust.
After posting the charity page link on to a Streetly neighbourhood Facebook page, the Blackwood Primary School pupil reached her fundraising goal in just two weeks.
Kimran donated an impressive 14 inches of hair when she had her hair cut at BU Salon in Solihull, which is owned by a friend of her mother.
“I’m so proud of what she has done,” said Neeta, who lives with her husband Suki and four-year-old son Kyran. “We’ve had people we don’t even know donating to the fundraiser, which is really touching, too. It just shows how kind children are and how a community can pull together to make a better place.”
Anyone wishing to boost Kimran’s fundraising efforts can visit her JustGiving page: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/kimran