Creative charity shines in the Lenten gift of a little 9-year-old girl. Lauren Cobak, a 3rd grader from Pinecrest Academy, decided to make a different kind of sacrifice this Lent by donating 12 inches of her hair to “Locks of Love,” which provides wigs for children who have lost their hair due to cancer or other medical procedures. The article below is reprinted with permission from the February 6, 2008 issue of the Forsyth County News.

Girl plans to give her locks for Lent

By Ben Holcombe
Associate Editor

Some believers may give up

	Lauren Cobak of Pinecrest Academy

meat or sweets for Lent. Pinecrest Academy third-grader Lauren Cobak is giving up her curls.

For Lent, which begins today with Ash Wednesday, Cobak is donating about 12 inches of her hair to Locks of Love.

Cobak, 9, plans to have her hair cut later this week at Salon 9 in southern Forsyth County.
"I felt like I needed to do this for somebody else," she said.

Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of the 40-day Lenten season when many Christians prepare for the celebration of Easter, which comes on March 23 this year.

Though Locks of Love is best known for providing wigs for pediatric cancer patients, the nonprofit organization also provides hairpieces for children who have experienced hair loss from other long-term medical problems.

Cobak´s mother, Kimberly, said her daughter decided on the haircut of her own volition.

"It´s a personal sacrifice," she said. "And it´s so much more."

It is also a surrender of vanity, Cobak explained, and a reflection of what Lauren learns in their Alpharetta home and at Pinecrest, a private Catholic school in Forsyth County.

"They do different service projects through the school," Kim Cobak said. "And we´re Catholic, so we show the children what it is to be good neighbors ... and help the less fortunate."

Salon 9 owner Dawn Emond, who recently moved to the Alpharetta area from New York, said she often did Locks of

	At the “Locks of Love” salon.

Love cuts in New York, but Cobak will be her first since coming to Georgia.

"It´s just a snip," she said. "Then you style [what´s left] the way they want it."

Cobak and her husband, Bob, have two other daughters, Taylor, 3, and Sidney, 13 months. Kim Cobak said both she and her husband lost grandfathers to lung cancer.

Lauren Cobak, who is involved in ballet, basketball, acting classes and violin lessons, said she is actually excited about getting such a drastic haircut.

"I wanted to give it up for people who don´t have hair," she said. "I wanted to be unselfish."

E-mail Ben Holcombe at benholcombe@forsythnews.com.

Originally published Wednesday, February 6, 2008