A local Lion has swallowed his pride and parted with his mane.
Richard Jolliffe had 14 inches of his hair chopped off during a fundraiser Monday night at Coldwater United Church. The hair will be used to create a wig for a cancer patient and the money raised will go to the Canadian Cancer Society’s Wheels of Hope transportation program.
“It’s a very small thing I can do, but it will give dignity and happiness and hope to someone who needs it,” said Jolliffe, who has been a member of the Coldwater Lions Club for 15 years.
Jolliffe was emotional Monday night, but it wasn’t because he was about to lose his locks.
Two years ago, his daughter, Kelly, died in a car crash. She was 31.
“I wanted something to remember her by,” Jolliffe said.
Hair care is what he went with for his “survival strategy.” Whenever he brushed or washed his hair, his daughter was on his mind.
“I was afraid I’d forget her,” he said. “I quickly realized that’s not how it works.”
Before Monday night, it had been more than two years since Jolliffe’s last haircut. When it came time to tidy it up, he decided he wanted to support the Canadian Cancer Society at the same time.
“I’ve always been a passionate man. I’ve always been an empathetic man. This has just taken it to a different level,” he said of losing his daughter.
While it’s a drastic change in appearance, Jolliffe said he wasn’t nervous.
“It’s not about me. It’s about the Canadian Cancer Society and supporting them,” he said. “I’m not a rich man. This is just something small I can do.”
It might have seemed like a small gesture, but Jolliffe’s fellow Lions made sure it was anything but. A few of them pitched in cash to get the chance to do some of the snipping. Then, it was on to the beard. If they wanted to see Jolliffe lose the facial hair, it was going to cost them.
They seemed to be OK with that.
Within about half an hour, more than $2,000 had been raised by the few dozen in attendance.
Jolliffe, a blacksmith at the Coldwater Canadiana Heritage Museum, was appreciative but not necessarily surprised.
“Lions are very community-minded people,” he said.
They didn’t need to prove that any more Monday night, but they did when they donated $1,000 to the church and another $1,000 to Camp Huronda, a camp for kids with Type 1 diabetes.
The Lions thanked Em’s Cafe for donating a gift certificate for the raffle and for supplying chocolate pizza.