A Teenager’s Chance to Heal Through the Power of Donations
Jordan Haase may look like your average 16-year-old girl. Still, behind her bright and cheerful exterior is a teenager with an enormous capacity for kindness and a giving spirit. Jordan, a sophomore based in Columbus, Ohio, along with her sisters, were given earth-shattering news when they learned that their father was diagnosed with a life-threatening cancer.
After her father passed in the summer of 2022, Jordan struggled with her grief and hoped to find an outlet for her pain. A friend of hers, who was also grieving from a recent loss, was planning to buzz cut his hair for an online fundraising challenge. Jordan thought it would be the perfect way to channel her grief into something good.
“My exact words were, ‘No way!’” explained Jordan’s mom, Jen. But later, she agreed when Jordan told her mom that it was for a good cause, on one condition: Jordan and her sisters donate the money she raised to a charity that was extra close to them. The girls decided it should help other grieving children, and the children’s bereavement camp through Ohio’s Hospice of Central Ohio was their obvious choice.
On February 21, 2023, exactly two years after Jordan’s dad was diagnosed, Jordan entered a hair salon. She buzzed off almost ten inches of hair. She posted a picture on her social media with a caption encouraging donations, along with the link to Camp HOCO at Home. In just a few hours, Jordan raised more than $5,000. This was enough money to send 70 local children an at-home kit full of crafts and projects to help channel their grief.
“Most teenage girls wouldn’t have the courage or desire to cut their hair; I don’t think I would have done it at her age,” Jen said. Through tears, looking at Jordan, she continued, “I’m so proud, and I know your dad would be so proud, too.”
“It felt good that I was doing something with my grief; I was dealing with it instead of letting it dwell,” Jordan explained. “The fact that my story could help lead more people to donate to children’s grief services, I say do it. Healing is easier whenever you can turn something negative into a positive.”
Out of the mouths of babes we learn that great healing can come from the power of giving.
