Crystal Falls daughter, Amasa father donate hair to Locks of Love

Kristine Rivard and her father, Gordon Robinson, turned a routine haircut into a shared gift on June 10 at The Shed Hair and Nails, sending six braids from Rivard and four from Robinson to Locks of Love. Rivard is from Crystal Falls and Robinson is from Amasa, and the two had long planned to make the donation together. With Jamie Carollo handling the cut, the appointment became a small Iron County moment of service instead of a private errand.

The reason was personal. Both Rivard and Robinson had watched family members go through cancer treatment and lose their hair, and they wanted to do something that might make that experience a little easier for children facing the same kind of hardship. Robinson, a retired construction worker in his mid-60s, still wore shoulder-length hair, while Rivard’s hair had grown nearly to her waist before it was cut.

Locks of Love says it provides hair prostheses to financially disadvantaged children age 21 and under with long-term medical hair loss, and says most of its recipients suffer from alopecia areata. The organization says it purchases custom prostheses and provides them free of charge. Its donation guidance also says donors can use a salon they already know and are comfortable with, a path Rivard and Robinson followed at The Shed Hair and Nails.

Rivard said the moment felt special because she and her father had wanted to do it together for a long time but had never set aside the right time until now. She hoped other families would take the same approach and remember that an act of kindness does not have to be large to matter. In Amasa, where Hematite Township’s hall stands at 109 West Pine Street, the donation tied two Iron County communities together in a simple gesture with a practical purpose.