Locks of Love — live!
Published: February 23, 2006
People here have a chance to be a cut above when it comes to giving and be on TV at the same time.
On March 1, NBC’s “Today” plans to broadcast live from Restaurant Starlu in Durham where owner/chef Sam Poley and other volunteers will have their hair cut off to benefit Locks of Love. The nonprofit organization uses gifts of human hair to create wigs for children with a balding condition.
Poley, whose hair is 18 inches long, said he plans to wear his hair in a Pebbles’ ponytail on top of his head for the cut.
The fact that he and his wife, Stephanie, are having their first child in August figured into his decision to donate his hair as a way of helping children.
“I didn’t want to look like that disappointed rock ‘n’ roll nonstar,” Poley, 36, said of being a future father figure.
He had begun growing his hair two years ago as a sign of his “independent spirit” in starting his own restaurant in November 2004, he said.
He had originally planned to have his locks shorn and invite others to do the same as part of a July event at his restaurant to benefit Locks of Love. But that changed two and a half weeks ago after he had seen “Today” news anchor Ann Curry say that she was getting her hair cut on March 1 for the show’s Locks of Love coverage.
He called NBC and spoke with Robin Sindler, a “Today” producer, and told her what he had planned. Next thing he knew, she wanted to include his restaurant in the show.
“He seemed very genuine,” Sindler said Tuesday in a phone interview from the show’s studio in New York.
The show will include some 100 people who will join Curry for the charity hair-cutting in Rockefeller Plaza, a live remote broadcast from a Wisconsin elementary school as well as some Locks of Love recipients including a 12-year-old girl, Sindler added.
“She said it just changed her life,” Sindler said.
Poley said that the idea of helping “children feel more comfortable when they’re out in the world” by doing something as easy as cutting off his hair appealed to him. And, he hopes others will feel the same way.
The most common cause of balding in children is alopecia areata, an autoimmune deficiency disease that most often begins in childhood and can be psychologically devastating, according to the National Alopecia Areata Foundation’s Web site.
Locks of Love founder Madonna Coffman started the organization in 1997 because she and her daughter had dealt with long-term hair loss from alopecia areata.
Coffman said that she appreciated Restaurant Starlu’s role in the upcoming benefit.
“We are especially happy to learn of the personal commitment of Mr. Poley by donating his own ‘locks’ for our cause. His selfless act of kindness along with any other donors who attend the event will help us to continue to provide the highest quality hair prostheses to children with medical hair loss …,” Coffman said in a release.
So far, Locks of Love has helped over 17,000 families but would like to reach additional children and are seeking more referrals, Locks of Love executive director Jim Murphy said Wednesday.
Ninety-five percent of Locks of Love recipients have been provided free hair prostheses, he added.
Poley said he’d like to have as many as 300 volunteers participate on March 1. He’s been told to have everyone there by 6:30 a.m. but doesn’t know exactly what time the live remote will air during the show, 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. show.
“We’re going to feed them and give them all the coffee they want,” Poley said.
Helping others is nothing new for the restaurant. Since it opened two years ago, the restaurant’s Bottles of Change has raised more than $3,300 for charities and another $18,100 to Direct Relief International for hurricane and tsunami relief efforts.
February’s recipient is Guiding Eyes for the Blind, an organization that trains and places dogs with visually impaired people in the U.S. and Canada.
Each month, the restaurant designates a red and white wine as the Bottles of Change selection and donates 50 cents per glass and $2 per bottle per sale. Patrons may also drop contributions into a 2-liter wine bottle.
“Giving back to the community is part of our philosophy,” Poley said.
They also want to make it easy for others to do the same, he added.
“And now, here in Durham, we’re going to have one big snap. We can turn a haircut into a movement,” Poley said.
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