THE local community donated more than $8160 so that Mount Isa Mines employee Cordelia Chin would have her hair shaved.
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Her commitment was part of the World’s Greatest Shave which raised funds for the Leukaemia Foundation. And she reached double her $4000 target.
“Are you ready?” one of Ms Chin’s colleagues asked as she sat undercover in front of the mine’s administration building, ready for the chop last Friday.
“No. Yes. No. Do it!” Ms Chin said. Her partner Matt Breen then decided which part of her hair he would cut first.
One observed suggested he shave a ball patch.
“This can’t come back to bite me at all,” Mr Breen said. He wanted to start in the middle but was persuaded to begin on her right side.
No. Yes. No. Do it!
- Cordelia Chin
But his role as hairdresser was quickly taken over by Larns Puttock. Her watching colleagues called out support, saying her shaven head did suit her.
Once the hair was cut Ms Chin said “it’s so much cooler and so much lighter.
“It feels really weird when the wind blows through it. That’s a new sensation.”
After the shave Ms Chin thought she had raised $4500, although this had not factored in the funds gathered from two barbecues held that Friday morning. The MIM R62 barbecue raised $1230 and the X41 barbecue raised $626.
The ponytail would be donated to Wigs for Kids.
She said the support from the Mount Isa community had been amazing.
People had casually handed over sums of cash to support the cause.
“I have been overwhelmed by this generosity,” Ms Chin said.
She was motivated to shave for a cure because of the loss in her family.
Two members of her family had died from acute Myeloid Leukaemia. “That’s my motivation,” Ms Chin said.
Another mines employee, Chelsea McKavanagh, also had her ponytail cut off.
When she was handed the ponytail she said; “I feel so weird holding it. It’s like a little meerkat.”
Ms McKavanagh said that she was inspired by Ms Chin to get involved.
“I wasn’t quite brave enough to shave,” Ms McKavanagh said.
She also had two people in her family that had died from cancer and another from a brain tumor.
Ms Chin’s fundraising webpage could be found at worldsgreatestshave.com. The Mount Isa Mines’ engineering team donated $605 and said “love your work, Cordelia.”
