San Diego Community Newspaper Group
THURSDAY, JUNE 10, 2010
www.SDNEWS.com Volume 15, Number 39
Volunteers sweep into Village for monthly cleanups BY JENNA FRAZIER | VILLAGE NEWS La Jolla residents are willing to get dirty to polish their community as about 30 volunteers have been proving on the second Saturday of each month since January at the La Jolla Town Council’s Nell Carpenter Beautification/Streetscape Committee local cleanups. This month’s event will take place June 12 from 9 a.m. to noon, and will target Pearl Street from Girard Avenue to La Jolla Boulevard. Participants will meet at the intersection of Fay Avenue and Pearl Street to fuel up with donated Starbucks coffee and refreshments, then arm themselves with gloves, pickers, brooms, trash bags and other tools necessary to leave the street sparkling clean. Volunteers will sweep sidewalks and gutters, remove weeds and tend flowerbeds, marking Pearl Street’s first official cleanup since April 2007. Esther Viti, chairwoman of the committee, initiated the switch from three to five annual cleanups to monthly ones five months ago. Since then, she said, the tradition has been met with enthusiasm and has made strides in keeping La Jolla pristine. “Many residents come out to participate, in addition to visitors from all over,” Viti said. “We have participants of all ages, from three to 85. They are all just so happy to help.” Viti added that everyone’s contribution matters, from a small child with a trash picker to college students able to wield more powerful landscaping tools. “Every month SEE CLEANUPS, Page 4
RESULTS June 8 primary election GOVERNOR PRIMARY REPUBLICAN Meg Whitman 63.65% Steve Poizner 26.48%
DEMOCRATIC Edmund “Jerry” Brown 80.20% Richard Aguirre 7.07% NOTE: Whitman and Brown will vie for governor in November
SAN DIEGO UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT SUB-DISTRICT C John de Beck (incumbent) 42.76% Scott Barnett 41.20% Michelle R. Crisci 16.04% NOTE: de Beck and Barnett will have a runoff for the school district seat in November
PROPOSITION D — Strong Mayor Yes 60.53% No 39.47% NOTE: A ninth council district will be created following the U.S. Census redistricting and that seat will be filled in 2012 Source: County of San Diego Registrar of Voters
La Jolla High School 10th-grader Ryan Farley gets her hair cut by Paul Mitchell School of Hair Design stylists during the 2010 San Diego Hair Donation Event, PAUL HANSEN | Village News held by students in the La Jolla High Model United Nations Club.
LJHS event a hair-raising success BY JENNA FRAZIER | VILLAGE NEWS Thirteen cancer patients who have lost their hair during chemotherapy treatments will receive luscious new locks for free, thanks to the efforts of the La Jolla High School (LJHS) Model United Nations Club and its 2010 San Diego Hair Donation Event last week. A total of 75 ponytails were collected from 29 donors who came from all over San Diego to shed at least eight inches of hair each. The hair will be sent to Pantene Beautiful Lengths to make complimentary wigs, which can cost up to $1,200, that will be distributed to cancer patients in need throughout the nation. Ardis Zhong, a member of the Model United Nations club who will serve as its vice president next year, was first to go under the blade of Paul Mitchell School of Hair Design stylists. “I was really nervous but also so excited,” Zhong said. “This was the first time I had ever donated hair, but it’s something I always wanted to do and it felt so great to contribute to such an important cause.” Zhong said the idea for the event was born a few months ago when she wanted to get a haircut. “Donating my hair is something I’ve always wanted to do,” she said. After an enthusiastic response from other students, Zhong said, “I thought it would be fun to have everyone donate together.” The event attempted to break the world record for the most hair donated in 24 hours, currently held by a group in Mississippi that gathered 107.4 pounds of hair from 881 donors in 2007. While the LJHS event fell short, Zhong said she still considers the effort a success. “The world record attempt was secondary
Ardis Zhong, who proposed the idea for the event, was the first to get her hair cut. PAUL HANSEN | Village News
to pulling off a really fun, fulfilling event,” Zhong said. “We got a total of 75 ponytails from the people who did participate, which is enough to make 13 new wigs for cancer patients. So our efforts are going to help 13 people across the nation, and that was really the biggest thing on my mind.” To be acceptable for donation, hair must be at least eight inches in length and must not be bleached, permanently dyed or more than 5 percent gray. These requirements exist to make “the most beautiful, realistic and durable wigs,” according to the Pantene Beautiful Lengths website. Each wig requires at least six donated ponytails, according to the site. Once the hair for a single wig is assembled, stylists at Pantene’s partner, HairUWear, dye it to match. To achieve uniform color, all the hair must absorb dye at the same rate. After wigs are finished, HairUWear sends them to the American Cancer Society, which then distributes the wigs for free to cancer patients who have
lost their natural hair. “These people don’t have the privilege of growing back their hair like I do,” Zhong said. “Being anxious about how the haircut will turn out doesn’t compare to the pain of not having hair at all. Mine will always grow back, but they don’t have that option.“ Zhong was so thrilled with the results of the event that she plans to donate again and hopes to plan another, similar event next year, “when I have more hair,” she said. Since July 2006, Pantene Beautiful Lengths has collected more than 50,000 ponytails from donors nationwide, a Pantene representative said. The LJHS Model United Nations Club, which organized the event, attends conferences where members adopt roles of United Nations members and discuss relevant issues and current events, then craft resolutions based on procedures used by the U.N. For information about future hair donation events visit pantene.com/beautifullengths.