By Chloe Drescher and Bora Nanaj

Do you have more than eight inches of hair? Do you need plans for June 1? Come support Jamesville-DeWitt High School junior Liz DiGennaro with her Hairathon! At Mario’s Hair Designs in Manlius, DiGennaro is holding an event where girls can volunteer to donate their hair to DiGennaro’s cause.

DiGennaro’s goal is to get 36 girls to donate their hair, which will make six wigs. In order to donate your hair, you must be able to meet the length requirement of eight inches, your hair cannot be permanently dyed or bleached and cannot be more than five percent gray.

DiGennaro is looking for more girls to participate and donate their hair. Mario’s Hair Designs is donating four hours of their time to cut girls hair for free from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. If you are interested, show up to Mario’s Hair Designs on June 1 or email DiGennaro at [email protected].

DiGennaro has taken on this project in order to receive the Gold Award from the Girl Scouts of America. “It is the highest achievement that a girl can get,” said DiGennaro. It has always been a goal for her to earn the Gold Award. “It requires 80 hours of service in which you pick your own problem in the community and address it,” she explained.

DiGennaro is addressing the issue of hair loss in women. She chose this topic because a family friend was recently diagnosed with cancer, and she wanted to do something to help out. She chose to send the hair she receives to Pantene Beautiful Lengths who then gives the wigs made from the donated hair to women with cancer. DiGennaro likes this organization because they target young women and do not charge the women for the wigs.