{"id":27232,"date":"2021-07-07T21:57:32","date_gmt":"2021-07-07T21:57:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cmshub.wpengine.com\/?p=348782"},"modified":"2024-11-03T15:14:35","modified_gmt":"2024-11-03T15:14:35","slug":"air-force-academy-cadet-donates-19-inch-afro-and-fundraises-39000-for-kids-with-cancer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ogkologos.com\/en\/air-force-academy-cadet-donates-19-inch-afro-and-fundraises-39000-for-kids-with-cancer\/","title":{"rendered":"Air Force Academy Cadet Donates 19-Inch Afro and Fundraises $39,000 for Kids with Cancer"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Kieran Mo\u00efse has been growing his Afro for the past six years. The impressive hairstyle stands tall and wide, a testament of his dedication to its growth. Now, at age 17, Kieran is joining the United States Air Force Academy where he will need to sport a very close buzz like all other cadets. So, Kieran decided to send off his iconic hairstyle in a big way with all of his community members, all while creating a charity drive for children with cancer. With hundreds of community members in Huntsville, Alabama gathering to watch Kieran say goodbye to his 19-inch curls, he raised $38,000.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Photo: Facebook\/Rick Karle WVTM 13<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Kieran has always held part of his identity in his hair. \u201cHe was born with a beautiful headful of hair, and for his entire life, that\u2019s the first thing everyone noticed about him,\u201d explained mother Kelly Mo\u00efse.<\/a> \u201cEverywhere he went, he was the guy with the big hair. There was no way not to notice it.\u201d Kelly and her husband Patrick Mo\u00efse chronicalled Kieran\u2019s hair journey, showing its exponential growth over the years.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Photo: Facebook\/Kelly Vance Mo\u00efse<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Although Kieran initially grew out his hair due to his dislike of haircuts, he quickly adapted it as part of his personality, wrapping it with string lights during Christmas and styling it with bandanas and visor hats. However, despite his love for his Afro, Kieran also knew that he would, one day, need to cut it for his career.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u201cHe knew from a very young age that he wanted to be an engineer and an astronaut,\u201d Patrick explained. \u201cBeing accepted at the Academy was a dream come true, but also part of his path to doing great things.\u201d That\u2019s when Kieran decided to put his curls to good use \u2014 an appropriate send off for something that has been such a big part of his life for so long.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Photo: Facebook\/Kelly Vance Mo\u00efse<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When Kieran was in the eighth grade, he lost a close, dear friend to cancer. Inspired by his childhood friend, Kieran created a haircut-based fundraiser to serve two purposes: to raise $1,000 for every inch of his hair, to be donated to St. Jude Children\u2019s Research Hospital,<\/a> and to donate his curls to Michigan nonprofit Children With Hair Loss.<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

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\u201cMy son has always had a huge heart,\u201d said Kelly. \u201cHe was determined that if he was going to have to get a haircut anyway, then he should pay it forward in a way that would help as many people as possible.\u201d And so Kieran got to work designing, printing, and posting fliers for the \u201cKieran\u2019s Curls for Cancer\u201d fundraiser.<\/a> He invited everyone to watch him have his curls buzzed off at a local bar that donated the space, including a link to donate on each flier.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Photo: Facebook\/Rick Karle WVTM 13<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Donations came flooding in to the website Kieran built, and when the fateful day came, over 100 people showed up at Straight to Ale<\/a> to watch the big buzz. Kieran\u2019s long curls were braided, with family and friends taking turns celebrating Kieran and cutting off his braids. Finally, family barber Jeff Johnson brought out his clippers and did the final honors of giving Kieran a buzz worthy of the Academy.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Photo: Facebook\/Kelly Vance Mo\u00efse<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Kieran\u2019s braided curls were carefully wrapped and mailed to Children With Hair Loss, and the fundraiser wrapped up with a little over $39,000 in donations. Soon after, the Mo\u00efses drove up to Colorado Springs and sent Kieran on his way to the Air Force Academy.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Photo: Facebook\/Patrick Mo\u00efse<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s going to do great things,\u201d Kelly concluded. \u201cI have no doubt.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Additional Resources<\/span><\/h3>\n

Source<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kieran Mo\u00efse has been growing his Afro for the past six years. The impressive hairstyle stands tall and wide, a testament of his dedication to its growth. Now, at age 17, Kieran is joining the United States Air Force Academy where he will need to sport a very close buzz like all other cadets. So, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5137],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27232","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-world-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ogkologos.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27232","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ogkologos.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ogkologos.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ogkologos.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ogkologos.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27232"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ogkologos.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27232\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43714,"href":"https:\/\/ogkologos.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27232\/revisions\/43714"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ogkologos.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27232"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ogkologos.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27232"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ogkologos.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27232"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}