Super Hero Donors From the 2006 Locks of Love Hair Drive
Locks of Love Hair Drives on Campus
Artists for Social Change joined Truc Nguyen and the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) Resident Assistant (RA) Program as a cosponsor from 2006 to 2009. During the 2006 hair drive, the number of donations doubled to 59 donors. The following year, it went up to 71! Thanks to Jan Zheng who made cool posters for the events and James Weaver and David Tatum for chalking information about the event on the campus walkways late one chilly April night! The marketing paid off!
In 2009, the event was cosponsored by Rachel Kabik and the Sigma Alpha Epsilon Pi sorority. Many thanks to all the volunteers! Thanks also to the UMBC Off-Campus Student Services center for help reserving everything and decorating! Lastly, thanks to the volunteer stylists of Hair Cuttery (at 4632 Wilkens Ave. in Baltimore) and their volunteer associates from around the area. As usual, they did an amazing job!
Below are pictures from our first cosponsored event.
Tips for Setting Up a Hair Drive
Below are steps to organize a hair drive. The key is to have fun while supporting this worthy cause!
1. Organize - Get the approval to use a venue for the event. Possible venues: schools, community centers, nonprofit buildings. Then, ask hairdressers at local hair salons if they would be interested in volunteering their time to come to your venue to cut hair for free, with all proceeds benefiting Locks of Love. Let them know of the 7 inches hair requirement for donations.
2. Food and Parking - Work with organizations to see if they will provide free parking permits as needed and food for the volunteers. If a food provider offers free food for the donors as well, that's even better! At the very least, the hairdressers should be provided with a nice meal for their services. They can stagger who takes their break to eat so that donors do not wait too long.
3. Educate! - Tell prospective donors about how the hair drive works. Include information on (1) the length of hair required, (2) event details, and (3) where the hair is going (Locks of Love Site: https://locksoflove.org/).
4. Marketing Time! - (1) If on campus, contact Resident Assistants (RAs) to offer to put together a bulletin board about the hair drive for them to use in their hall. Bulletin boards could include ribbons, flyers, and many heart cutouts from construction paper. Put the bulletin board items in an envelope for each RA interested and place them in their mailboxes. (2) Chalk! Get permission to write on a common walkway and promote the event creatively by writing and drawing on the walkway about the event. (3) Banner! - Make a large banner for a public building and add a place to add Velcro to place cutouts of the date (that also have Velcro so they can attach to the banner). That way, you can reuse the banner and replace the dates without damaging the large banner! Get permission to put up the banner in the venue of your choice. (4) Share digital flyers via the Internet!
5. Go Time! - Help get the hairdressers set up. Give numbers (you can make these ahead of time using construction paper, a marker, and a laminating machine) to donors so it's first come first served. Meet the donors and thank them for their donation. Give donors the Locks of Love form to fill out, if they want to.
6. Thank you! - Thank the hairdressers for their time and hard work. Also thank the volunteers, donors, venue, car permit providers, and food providers that made the event a success!
