Downtown restaurant owner chops locks for charity

Raleigh, N.C. — Patrons at Joe's Place got what could be considered an unexpected treat during their lunchtime dining Wednesday.

Joe Sciolino, who owns the downtown Raleigh restaurant, got more than 1 foot of his locks chopped for charity and to help raise awareness for cancer.

The cause: Locks of Love, a nonprofit group that provides hairpieces to people who have lost their hair because of illness.

Sciolino lost his mother, Edee, to breast cancer in 1989. He lost his father, Charlie, to multiple myeloma in June 2006.

That's when he decided to start growing out his hair.

"It was my own way of dealing with the grief of losing my parents and giving back at the same time," Sciolino said.

Wednesday would have been his father's 82nd birthday.

Susan McCormick, a volunteer with the Triangle affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure, says most of Sciolino's har will likely go to make an adult wig.

Sciolino said with all the hair, he's been hot for a long time and was ready to get rid of it. Having played Santa Claus for the past seven years for children at Durham Regional Hospital, he says he'll definitely need to wear a Santa wig this year.

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Latest Comments

To those of you whining about why is this news, did you not see that when you clicked on the link it was under the "noteworthy" section. You must be the ones who have nothing better to do than whine and complain about everything you see. Its nice to see something actually positive in the news. I give Joe props for doing this. Its nice to know that there are some good people left out there, unlike those of you moaning about this story. Glad none of you are my relatives.

Jake B
October 10, 2008 10:40 a.m.

Congrats! I tried to give my hair it is also grey, but was told they will not take dyed or grey! It makes me sad I could not help! Sunkist1950@Yahoo.com

sunkist1950
October 8, 2008 9:36 p.m.

Well I cut off my hair for Locks of Love and no one wrote a story about me. Thanks for the upbeat story, WRAL.

QT3.14
October 8, 2008 8:12 p.m.

This is a great story. It is Breast Cancer Awareness Month you know.

TeresaBee
October 8, 2008 7:57 p.m.

ghimmy51 -Talk about taking away the joy of the story. This man has given of himself to help another human being. Too many complain about the news because it seems to be all bad, but then when we have a great, human interest story, "someone" has to read something into it. This is the problem with so many people - they can't see the good in someone, only think he's out for something. Yes, we all lose our parents, but with new treatments and cancer research, they may be around longer to enjoy their children. Maybe you have never experienced cancer in your family, but try to think about others, if you can.

Great story, thanks to Joe and others like him who give of themselves for a great cause, and you look great! Thanks, too, WRAL for sharing this with us.

krisandbruiser
October 8, 2008 6:24 p.m.