We got our shirt and we are ready to go!
Co-shavees!
Waving at the crowd...ready to go!
The first shave...
Still smiling!
Almost done now!
Sisters!
Tink started Saturday with a head of hair — long brown locks that flowed to her shoulders and neatly framed her round face.
By 4:15 p.m., the buzz was on, but not just from the electric shaver.
Tink wanted her head shaved. And, the crowd of some 200 people who watched the 11-year-old Kenosha girl lose her mane during the fourth annual St. Baldrick’s fundraiser for children’s cancer research at the Brat Stop, cheered her on.
With one section of hair remaining to be shaved, many standing began applauding vigorously.
“Way to go Tink!” one man called out.
Among her biggest fans, her father sat in the chair next to her and received a similar cut. He hugged her immediately after the last lock fell.
With just the peach fuzz that remained, she then climbed out of her chair, smiling.
Inspired by Garrett
She said her inspiration, a little boy named Garrett, had lost his life to cancer and she wanted to do something to help other children who have the disease.
Just 10 days ago, she started raising awareness in person and on Facebook. With the help of her parents, friends, her church and the community, she garnered more than $2,700. Her donation goal was $500.
Her mother said Tink had just planned to donate some money to a young man who was also going to have his head shaved. Then, she told her parents something they never expected.
“Mom, I have to do that,” she told her mother.
Her parents talked it over, and when Tink explained why she was making the sacrifice, Dad was soon compelled to join her.
“Her heart was totally in the right place,” he said.
Tears, locks fall
Mom said she was crying as her daughter’s hair fell onto the stage. Before the event, Tink tried to reassure her mother it was just hair and it would grow back.
The bigger picture was that kids could help kids in need.
“When I knew I could do something like this, I thought, why not?” Tink said.
