Local salon plans fundraiser for heart transplant candidate

By Jennifer Eisenbart

Editor

It’s been a rough few months for Michelle and Jim Smith – and a local business wants to help out.

For the second time in as many years, Trendsetters in Burlington, at 388 North Pine Street, will host a cut-a-thon to help out a struggling family.

Last year, the business held the same event to help Missy Kempken, who was suffering from esophageal cancer. She later died from the disease, but Trendsetters former owner and now employee Linda LeClaire said the precedent was set.

“Last time, we had a huge turnout for Missy Kempken,” LeClaire explained. “I think it’s going to be pretty big.”

At the heart of the fundraiser is, in fact, the failing heart of Jim Smith – who suffered a severe heart attack last year. He was placed on what the medical field calls an LVAD, a left ventricular assist device, to keep his heart pumping. He was also placed on the transplant list.

Ellen Hegemann, another Trendsetters employee who is friends with his wife, Michelle Smith, said Jim Smith has moved up the transplant list for a new heart.

“He’s way up there,” she said.

In the meantime, the business wants to reach out to Michelle Smith. Not only is she a client of the business, but she’s also a well-regarded teacher who has taught at St. Thomas School in Waterford as well as St. Charles Borromeo School in Burlington.

Smith is now teaching at St. Mary’s Grade School in Burlington. Hegemann, whose three children all had Smith as a teacher, had nothing but compliments for the teacher.

“She’s a math teacher, and she’s an exceptional teacher,” Hegemann said. “If you ask any child that had her, she’s their favorite teacher. She also taught religion, and she taught them to be good people.”

Hegemann said Michelle Smith led school religious retreats, as well as remain after school to help any student seeking help.

“She went out of her way to do more,” Hegemann said.

Now, Trendsetters is stepping up to do the same. The cut-a-thon will be Sunday, March 1, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Haircuts will be $25 on a walk-in, first-come, first-serve basis.

That isn’t all that will be offered, though. Trendsetters owner Kelly Willkomm said that there would also be $10 eyebrow waxes, plus raffles and drawings. In addition, Cassie Kane, a licensed massage therapist from Your Moment Massage, will offer chair massages at $10 for 10 minutes.

“We like to give back to the community,” Willkomm said. “We’re trying to annually do a fundraiser for someone local.

“If it happens to be a client, even better.”