April 9, 2015 was the day I had an idea that changed my life and my outlook on the crazy world we live in. My mom, Tiffany, passed away in 2013, after an almost nine-year battle with cancer. She was the most amazing woman I have ever met. She had the biggest heart and would always go out of her way to help the people she loved. April 9 was her birthday, and I decided that I wanted to do something to honor just how wonderful she was.
20 minutes before I needed to leave for work, I started a GoFundMe.com fundraiser to raise money in her honor. I posted that I was searching for a charity or organization that I thought would fit and I would fill everyone in with more information as soon as I found one. A family friend mentioned Wigs for Kids and their annual Day at the Zoo event. After researching more about them, I fell absolutely in love. That night, I updated all of the information and spread the word of our team, Tiffany’s Butterfly Effect.
Next, I decided I would design a t-shirt that my family could wear to the event and posted my design on Facebook, asking what they thought. To my surprise, everyone wanted the shirt: family, friends, my mom’s co-workers and even some kindhearted people who just wanted to support an amazing cause. Over the next few months, I collected t-shirt orders and donations. The support was almost overwhelming and amazing. Overall, I sold around 300 t-shirts and donated around $3,000 at Wigs for Kids' annual Day at the Zoo on July 24, 2015.
From this experience, I learned way more about myself than I ever thought I would. Special events, like this one, really make you take a step back and reevaluate the way you live your life. Watching my little cousin, my boyfriend’s sister, and her friend donate their beautiful long locks of hair that day made my heart full and brought tears to my eyes.
The entire day, I could not take my eyes off of the wig recipients. I have never witnessed more genuine smiles in my 21 years on this earth. For them, it was not “just hair," it was gaining back their identity that cancer and other horrible tragedies took from them. I thought back on all the times I was upset with a bad hair day, or mentioned how much I hated my long, frizzy curls. I felt guilty and ashamed for not being content with the fact that I had hair and a healthy life. I think everyone should go through an experience like this one because it changes you.
Never miss a chance to give back when you can. Take the time each and every day to reflect on what you have and a little less time on what you don’t. On this day, these children, whether they knew it or not, taught me how to just live.
