Lindsay Young, who organized the Pass Your Ponytail event in honor of Amanda Grace Ebel, center, gets her hair cut by Amanda as Jen Graham, owner of Jen Graham's Hair Couture, looks on. Amanda was diagnosed with alopecia, a disease in which the body fights its own hair follicles, when she was 2 years old.

Many donors measured up for a worthwhile cause last month.

People with at least eight inches of hair had a chance to donate their locks Feb. 8.

The event, “Pass Your Ponytail,” to benefit the organization Children with Hair Loss, which helps children who have suffered from medically caused hair loss, drew a shop full of people to Jen Graham's Hair Couture, 113 1/2 South St.

About 67 people came to donate their hair in one manner or another, said owner Jen Graham who trimmed hair for free, along with volunteer stylists Gabrielle Renforth and Leah Sommers.

“It goes to make wigs for girls who don't have hair,” said Graham, who said two men were among those who came in to have their locks shorn.

The organization will take any kind of hair, gray, dyed or bleached.

Graham, a stylist for 10 years, would put donors' hair in a ponytail, clip the requisite eight inches and then “we would make the cut look nice, we'd detail the cut.”

Since it took 20 to 30 minutes apiece to measure, cut and style each donor's hair, Graham said it was fortunate a lot of people stopped by just to drop off hair that had already been cut.

“We had donors coming by throughout the week dropping off hair,” said Graham.

One such donor was Elaine Brown, 80, of Butler, who stopped by to contribute a ponytail cut 70 years ago.

“This was the first time I got my hair cut,” Brown said. “I was 10 years old. My mother took me to Shearer Road where Sophie Krulatz had a beauty shop in the basement of her home.”

Brown said she kept her shorn blond locks in tissue paper for decades until she read about the chance to help a child.

“It's better as a wig than a keepsake,” she said of her long-held hair.

Another donor was Barb Ferrer of Butler, who found the event a worthwhile reason to give up the 21-inch ponytail of her late son, Nicholas.“He had it cut because he broke his shoulder and he couldn't comb his hair anymore,” said Ferrer. “Four or five months later he passed away.”Ferrer said she had kept the ponytail since 2011 because she was too emotional to decide what to do with it.“It would make me cry every time I saw it. I had to do something” she said.When she read about the benefit for Children with Hair Loss, Ferrer said, “We were glad to find a great organization to do something great.”Lindsay Young of Pittsburgh, who grew up in Butler, organized the event in honor of 8-year-old Amanda Grace Ebel, who is the adopted daughter of Rick and Diane Ebel of Butler. Amanda was diagnosed with alopecia, which is a disease where the body fights its own hair follicles, when she was 2 years old, leaving her bald.Amanda has benefited from the organization.Diane Ebel said her daughter, a third-grader at Penn Christian Academy in Penn Township, went completely bald in 2014.Her light brown wig from Children with Hair Loss gives Amanda an opportunity she didn't have before, said Diane Ebel.“She is comfortable with who she is but she has the option to look like everyone else. Having that option is priceless,” she said.Young has known the Ebels for years. She said she has been inspired by how well Amanda has handled her situation.

“When I was looking to hold an event I knew I wanted it here in Butler, and I knew I wanted to go for a small business because I run a small business,” said Young, who runs an online investigation operation.Young said she knew Graham through Graham's sister from when they were all in high school together.Young has donated to hair charities in the past, but she decided to make the Feb. 8 event for the benefit of Children with Hair Loss because it provides wigs for free.The Michigan-based group provides one wig a year for children until they are 21.“There are no limitations,” said Young.“We can grow our hair back, but Amanda might never get her hair again,” said Young.Young was not only the organizer but a donor as well.“This was my fifth time donating, but my first time for Children with Hair Loss. ”Young said.“I collected all the hair and put it in a box and mailed it to Michigan,” Young said. “When they asked me what was in the box and I said 'hair' it raised a few eyebrows at the post office until I explained where it was going.”She said monetary donations also can be made. Checks made out to Children With Hair Loss were to be dropped off during the Feb. 8 cutting session.“We are thinking about doing this once a year so that people who did donate their hair can come back and donate again,” said Graham.Young also said she would like to stage the event again next year.“This year, some people would have loved to donate, but they just didn't have the inches,” Young said.

Taking part in “Pass Your Pontyail” is Emily Cekella, a Seneca Valley High School student, who has her hair cut by Jen Graham. To donate, hair should be at least 8 inches long.

Barb Ferrer, rear, donated her late son's 21-inch ponytail at the event last month staged in honor of Amanda Grace Ebel, front. Organizers said 67 people donated their locks to the Children with Hair Loss organization which gives wigs to children.