Hair-razing time for Gitschier
Lowell native donating locks, raising money for Children With Hair Loss
For a person who doesn’t care much about the way it looks on him, Clark University pitcher and outfielder Zach Gitschier has spent much of the last few years thinking about hair.
With about 14 inches of it dangling down to around the middle of his back, the former Lowell Catholic standout hasn’t thought much about how it drapes over his shoulders or what style he should make of it. He brushes aside rude comments about the way it looks, one time laughing off a “who’s the girl pitching,” remark from a spectator that caused turmoil in the stands of a Lowell Post 87 American Legion game.
Instead, growing out his hair over the last two years has always been a devotion to donating it, which he’ll do on Thursday when he finally gets it cut. The sophomore plans to send the hair and whatever funds he can raise to the Children With Hair Loss organization. Through a week, that fundraiser has already surpassed the original $2,000 goal, and he hopes the donations will keep coming.
He also hopes to give something beyond mere money.
“The amount of (comments) you get for having long hair as a guy is kind of funny in my sense, but a lot of people take it to heart,” Gitschier said. “The thing I want to stress to people is the positivity of everything. It doesn’t really matter if you have hair or if you don’t have hair; the main thing is that you’re happy. By doing this, I’m hoping to make not only my friends and family happy, but also (making) the people who need it most happy.”
Gitschier’s girlfriend jokes with him that she’s been waiting for this haircut because she wants her hair to be longer than his. But she and the other people close to him know this isn’t just any random flash of philanthropy. This donation has been a long time coming.
The first taste of it came in the sixth grade, when a teacher inspired Gitschier and his parents to donate money to the family of a young boy battling cancer. Gitschier met the grandmother of the boy, and after seeing how much of an impact the donation made, he realized just how great this sort of thing made him feel. The idea to donate hair popped into his mind, but he didn’t have enough since Catholic schools don’t let students grow their hair past their ears.
When Gitschier’s junior year at Lowell Catholic rolled around, he found out a youth he coached had recently been diagnosed with alopecia – a condition involving the loss of all body hair. A conversation with his parents about it inspired him, and a plan — despite the rules about hair — was set in motion.
“His family had told me about just a lot of the self-conscious feelings he was feeling about not having any hair, that kind of thing,” Gitschier said. “Especially at that age, he was only – I want to say 11 or 12 at the time, maybe even younger. It just started hitting me, this would be a good thing to do.”
The idea to start growing it out came around the time hockey players grow out their hair, and he originally thought his hair would extend to just about the top of his shoulders. But once he realized a donation needs to be at least eight inches, he let it grow out.
After doing some research, Gitschier came across the Children With Hair Loss foundation, which was founded by a woman whose niece battled cancer and lost her hair. He chose to donate there because all the money donated goes toward hair replacement treatments. He reached out to them to see if they were still accepting donations during the pandemic — they were.
The way Gitschier figured it, a $2,000 goal would cover two treatments at about $1,000 per treatment. But ever since posting a video explaining his cause, the Lowell, Clark and surrounding communities have pooled together over $3,000 – much more than Gitschier expected during a time of financial hardship.
“It is an unreal feeling,” he said in a text. “I can’t thank everybody enough and hopefully we can keep exceeding my expectations!”
Contributions can be made to the GoFundMe fundraiser at www.gofundme.com/f/zach039scampaign-for-children-with-hairloss-inc?utm_source=customer&utm_medium=copy_link&utwww.gofundme.com/f/zach039scampaign-for-children-with-hairloss-inc?utm_source=customer&utm_medium=copy_link&utwww.gofundme.com/f/zach039scampaign-for-children-with-hairloss-inc?utm_source=customer&utm_medium=copy_link&utwww.gofundme.com/f/zach039scampaign-for-children-with-hairloss-inc?utm_source=customer&utm_medium=copy_link&utm_campaign=p_cf+share-flow-1.