Casey, Tayla Bandy and Ann Bandy get ready for the big haircut.
BEN Lobes-Aldenhoven left a lasting impression on his eight-year-old god-daughter Tayla Bandy.
Tayla’s father’s best friend, Ben, died on October 1 last year, at the age of 34, after losing a battle with leukaemia.
Tayla will cut off her hair this weekend as part of the World’s Greatest Shave raising money for Ben.
She decided last year that she would make the leap to cut off her hair, and would donate her hair towards wig making.
“I’m not nervous at all,” she said. “I’ll be glad to get it off, it gets too knotty.
“It’s been a while since I got my hair cut – it was about six months ago.”
In memory of Ben, 12 people will be shaving their head, including Tayla’s mum Ann Bandy.
“I said I would get involved if we raised $1000 – and we did. So I’ll be shaving my head,” Ms Bandy said.
The group running the event, Benny’s Mob, have already raised $18,000 and want to keep raising more.
Tayla’s father Casey Bandy said it was more than about one day or one fundraiser.
“For us it was never about one day – so we’ve been doing scrap steel pick-ups, ran a night at Karova, held sausage sizzles,” Mr Bandy said.
“We’re not doing it because Benny was taken from us by a disease, we’re doing it because he was a big part of our life and we don’t want others to go through it too.
“So we have the slogan ‘In Ben’s memory, but also for our kids’ future’.”
Tayla’s hair will be cut and other’s heads will be shaved at the First Annual Benny’s Mob Family Day and Show’n Shine at the Wallace Recreation Reserve from 10am this Saturday.
The day will include a car and motorbike show’n shine, head shaving, food and drink stalls, raffles and more. Public entry is $2.
Anyone can donate towards the Leukaemia Foundation in memory of Ben by sponsoring Tayla at my.leukaemiafoundation.org.au/TaylaBandy.