P&G and Walmart go to great lengths to fight cancer
ROGERS, Ark. -- Procter & Gamble’s Pantene hair care brand is teaming up with Walmart for the 10th annual Pantene Beautiful Lengths event in Northwest Arkansas.
The annual Pantene Beautiful Lengths event, a charity campaign that allows individuals to donate hair for women who have lost their own due to cancer treatment, will be held June 20 at the Walmart Arkansas Music Pavilion. This year organizers hope to help more cancer patients than ever before by aiming to collect hair from 1,000 donors in a special challenge between now and the June 20 event.
“Our goal for this 10th year in NW Arkansas is to create the largest community driven hair donation in Pantene Beautiful Lengths history,” shared Mindy Sherwood, vice president at Procter & Gamble. “Northwest Arkansas is well known for its philanthropic and community spirit and with that in mind, we are aiming to unify salons, schools, companies and organizations, volunteers and those who have been affected by cancer behind our goal. To do so, we invite girls, boys, women and men of all ages to join us as we make the kindest cut of all for those that suffer from cancer right here in Northwest Arkansas.”
The Pantene Beautiful Lengths program collects eight inches of untreated hair used to make real-hair wigs given free of charge to those suffering from cancer. The first hair cutting ceremony held in conjunction with the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship presented by P&G took place in 2007 and included 10 donors. Each year since, the LPGA event has held a donation ceremony and last summer over 320 donors participated at the Walmart AMP. Throughout the year, P&G also collects donations at its Fayetteville office but has never surpassed the goal set this year of 1,000 donors.
To reach this goal, organizers have planned a community initiative encouraging hair salons and schools to get involved. Local salons are invited to become partner salons of the Pantene Beautiful Lengths program by recruiting hair donors to participate during their regular haircut appointments. Donors can cut their ponytails during their visit to a participating salon and have the salon mail them to Pantene Beautiful Lengths (1303 E. Joyce Blvd., Fayetteville, AR 72703) to be part of the 1,000 donor drive. Salons that recruit at least 10 donors will be recognized through a comprehensive marketing campaign as part of the initiative.
“Our local Pantene Beautiful Lengths event has seen tremendous success and growth over the last 10 years. We are proud that through this initiative enough hair has been collected to satisfy demand for wigs locally, meaning that a large amount of the donations stay right here in NW Arkansas,” said Jay Allen, tournament chairman. “This June we plan to welcome over 300 donors to the Walmart AMP cutting event, but our efforts will not stop there. In the months leading up to tournament week, we hope to rally the community of Northwest Arkansas to help us reach an unprecedented total of 1,000 donors by June 20.”