Lavender Ribbon of Benevolence

The ballad’s strums and melodies from the radio coalesced with the slow and delicate running of the brush through her dark chestnut locks. It was a solemn and paradisal moment in one dusk of 2012. Like a broken record with melodies on repeat, this moment also occurred countless times. A simple scene of a father brushing his daughter’s long crowning glory, not knowing then that he was taking care of a princess who is ready to sacrifice and share her crown to her fellow queens.

The Share Your Crown Project roots from advocacy that takes an uncommon path, a path that does not entail financial resources or manpower. Its core demands are care and kindness, as simple as that, as rare as that. It started with a girl, who like many other girls, possesses natural, healthy, and long hair. Her hair never faced the detriments of chemicals and rarely went through sharp scissors. This was until a good friend of hers spoke of a sudden question. “Gusto mo i-donate buhok mo?”

She thought of her hair as her best asset, something to be taken care of and not to be abruptly taken away. The question left her in an arduous dilemma. Well, even Rapunzel’s tears dramatically escaped her eyes when her blonde locks were cut. But rather than letting the sea of confusion devour her, she did something. Looking up everything about cancer, chemotherapy, and hair donations, her verdict slowly twisted. A video of a little girl receiving a wig made out of hair donations caught her attention. As she saw the little girl’s precious smile, her heart gravitated towards that same level of happiness. And she wanted to let more little girls feel it, too. By that, 16 inches of her hair was cut.

From groups of friends to families, to institutions, the Share Your Crown Project continued to sail through. Hair donations were gathered and sent to Cuts Against Cancer. Each girl who donated received their own international certificates signed by the founder. But the rise of an unseen enemy became a hindrance to this project. Because of the pandemic, people lost their jobs, and Cuts Against Cancer lost its sponsors. Share Your Crown Project was on pause for almost two years.

Then one day, Iloilo Girl Scout Council’s Council Executive Tita Marie Claire E. Laru-an, virtually reached out to her and asked her about the hair donation process. At the end of a fruitful conversation, the Iloilo Girl Scout Council decided to keep this project sailing. Share Your Crown Project was opened to all. Now, in collaboration with The Cancer Center of Makati Medical Center, they are gathering hair donations not just from girl scouts but from any girl willing to share their hair.

Cancer patients have to undergo chemotherapy, making them lose their crowning glories. As last June was National Cancer Survivor Month and this July is Sarcoma & Bone Cancer Awareness Month, Iloilo Girl Scout Council supported this cause to make cancer patients happy. Together with the project facilitators, Rae Kianna E. Langusta and Tita Merrily Jane A. Pedroso, they are encouraging more girls to donate their hair. The girls who did hold this belief dearly: Your hair will absolutely grow long again, you lose nothing. You only gain happiness as you also make others happy.

It all started with one daughter’s long crowning glory, a princess who shared her crown with her fellow queens. This girl is Maria Ella Juliana S. Capanang, a writer, a student, a girl scout, and Share Your Crown Project’s Founder. To this day, more girls are sharing their crowns, showing cancer patients a delightful dawn as they rise from their bygones. This advocacy continues to lengthen towards cancer patients its lavender ribbon of hope and benevolence.