A gift that will keep giving

LEXINGTON, N.C. — Recently, 4-year-old Jenna Jenkins was on the receiving end of a lot of Christmas presents.

But soon afterward, she learned what it is like to give when she and her mother, Dawn Jenkins, donated eight inches of their hair to Pantene Beautiful Lengths, a free wigs program for women who have lost their hair because of cancer or other medical conditions.

Right after Christmas last year, Jenna began asking her mom "'When is Christmas? When will Ho-Ho come again?'" Dawn said.

"I began thinking what could I do to demonstrate to her that Christmas is about giving, not getting."

The Dispatch of Lexington reported that after some research online, Dawn approached Jenna with the idea of growing out their hair all year so they could cut it off around the holiday in 2008. Jenna immediately liked the idea.

So on a recent Monday, a year of hair growing was gone in two snips of the scissors, as both mom and daughter went from long hair to matching, short, bob hair-dos. The duo chose Lisa Kepley, hair stylist and owner of Contempo Hair Designs on Wilfred Avenue, to cut their hair.

Dawn Jenkins has gone to Kepley for years, but this was Jenna's first haircut. No one knew how she might react.

"I'm surprised she is so quiet and sitting still," Dawn said. "She is usually very active."

Jenna was a big girl, sitting still for her haircut. No tears flowed, except for a few well-ups between mom and grandma, Joretta Futrell, who came along to witness her daughter and granddaughter's act of giving.

Also viewing the act of kindness were Jenna's aunt, Angie Koontz, and one of Dawn's three older brothers, Luke Stephens.

"I'm keeping my hair short," said a beaming Jenna when she looked in the mirror at her new hairstyle.

Next, it was mom's turn. Just as she did with Jenna, Kepley placed a black hair band around Dawn Jenkins' hair to form a ponytail. Then she carefully measured it with a tape measure to be sure she was cutting at least 8 inches.

Then snip! The pony tail was gone and placed in a plastic bag to mail to the Pantene Beautiful Lengths wig program. It takes six to 10 pony tails to make one wig.

After the haircuts, Jenna was treated to a lunch at the restaurant of her choice — The Pizza Place — and a mini shopping spree at a Wal-mart Supercenter and Belk. She really was pleased to find out she could spend the night with her Mamaw Futrell.