A ten-year-old Southport schoolboy is sporting a new look for the start of the new year in a bid to raise money for Queenscourt Hospice.
Alex Gilbert underwent a dramatic haircut, losing inches of hair from his head, on New Year’s Eve.
So far dozens of kind-hearted local people have already helped Alex to raise £680 for his appeal with others now invited to donate for his efforts.
Alex’s Grandad, Dave Gilbert, helped to take the razor to Alex’s head to do away with six inches of hair, leaving him with a style to see in 2021.
He has been speaking with local radio presenter Cassie James on Mighty Radio today about his fundraising challenge.
Alex’s mum, Louise said: “He’s been growing his hair all summer but suddenly decided he wanted to do this. He is quite a little thinker and after hearing all about people donating to charity because of Covid-19, he wanted to do this for charity.
“I suggested he donated to a local charity to give back to our community and told him all about Queenscourt and he immediately chose them. Queenscourt is close to everybody’s heart and most people in the area have a link to it.”
Alex had originally planned to have his hair cut on Christmas Eve, but after worrying that Santa might not recognise him with his new hairstyle and not leave him any presents, decided to delay it for a week.
Louise said: “We are so proud of him – he really is a lovely boy who’s not got a selfish bone in his body.”
Cheering Alex on during the haircut along with Louise were his dad, Lucien, and brothers Joe and Sam.
A GoFundMe page has been set up and has already attracted £680 in donations.
“We initially set a target of £100 because times are hard for everybody so we were really surprised when we reached that within a week,” said Louise.
Judith Stewart, Queenscourt’s Fundraising and Lottery Manager, said: “We are so proud of Alex’s kind-hearted and brave approach to fundraising and for his help in Keeping Queenscourt in service. We cannot thank him enough for taking on this wonderful challenge.”
You can support Alex in his fundraising efforts at https://uk.gofundme.com/f/pa8x4v
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