THE entrance to Big W was fluffy with tufts of hair on Monday afternoon as a four of their male employees lined up to have their heads shaved. The big shave rounded off the store’s first Pink Ribbon Day fundraiser.
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Staff member Tess Torgau was on clippers duty and a crowd of cheering friends, family and customers gathered to watch as the locks fell.
In addition to the donations each man raised for the shave, the store had 17 prizes in a draw, donated by businesses. The raffles raised the total funds for the Cancer Council’s annual breast cancer drive to $2264.45.
Employee Adam Hickey volunteered to have his curly hair reduced to a smooth shave. As his hair tumbled to the floor, his toddler daughter, Lydia stooped to pick up some of his fallen hair and she reached out to give it back to him.
“Put it back daddy,” she said, and the crowd around them burst out laughing. Adam was joined by Adam Morrow, Raymond Roberts and Rhys Frendo who all left the chair a little lighter and cooler on top.
Tess and colleague Cheryl Brindley were behind the debut initiative for the store. The support was evident as employees dug out pink shirts, and wigs to wear for the day, ran pink rinses through their hair and polished their nails in pearly pink polish.
Big W manager Colleen Kemp said she felt proud of her team’s effort that was six weeks in the making.
“I am exceptionally proud,” she said. “The amount of time they spent on their own; not just in work time, but the effort they put outside of work, other people selling tickets, on their days off to the public, it was just overwhelming.”