Sometime a salon is the place where the magic happens. You know you have found an amazing teachers when 25 of her femaile students are willing to cut and donate 10 inches of their own hair to Locks of Love. In early December, Bella Bethesda Salon in Bethesda, Maryland, hosted a private Locks of Love event for the students of Our Lady of Lourdes K-8 Catholic School in Bethesda in support of their fifth grade teacher, Ms. Kate Truax, who has been battling leukemia since May of last year.

Truax was diagnosed with leukemia following breast cancer treatment she received during the 2009-2010 school year. A Baltimore native, she has been a patient at Johns Hopkins University Hospital where on October 25, 2011 she underwent a bone marrow transplant. She has stayed in contact with her students via Skype and last spring 77 male student from the shcool surprised her by revealing the had shaved off their hair in solidarity with her during a video chat.

"The reason this campaign is so special to us is due to our continual partnership with Locks of Love. Every February, Bella Bethesda hosts a weeklong event called "Cut it For a Cause" and to date we have donated more than 2,000 inches of hair," said Stacy Dabney Ramirez, co-owner of Bella Bethesda Salon. "Our salon is committed to giving back to the community and as an alumna of Our Lady of Lourdes, we are honored to work with the students and help support Ms. Truax during her battle."

For the students' efforts, they all received a free hair cut and blow dry from leading stylists at Bella Bethesda Salon.

"The students absolutely love Ms. Truax," said Patricia McGann, Prinicipal of Our Lady of Lourdes. "She has always gone above and beyond for her students and as a school community we wanted to show her our support. It has been an amazing experience to watch our school come together and the children are truly living out the values taught in the classroom each day.

Locks of Love is a non-profit organization which provides hairpieces to financially disadvantaged children under the age of 18 whit medical hair loss due to disease, burns and cancer.