Gabriel McPhee took his first steps toward becoming a Neighbourhood Hero last year when he was just five years old.

It happened when Barb Gemma, his friend Callum's mom, decided to cut her hair and donate it to the Canadian Cancer Society to make a wig for a cancer survivor. At the same time she was fundraising for the Relay For Life cancer fundraising event.

First Gabriel set up a lemonade stand -- He loves lemonade stands! -- and raised $18 to donate to Barb's fundraising efforts. Then, when he learned that Clair, a school friend, had also chosen to cut her already long hair and donate it to cancer, he decided to start letting his hair grow.

"I just thought if they can do it so can I," he told me simply.

By the time he entered Grade 1, Gabriel's hair was getting very long and the teasing began. More than once he shed a few tears when he got home.

"I thought of quitting a few times," Gabriel explained, "but it was just near the start and I had a goal to reach."

For the first six months or so, he refused to tell anyone why he was growing his hair, so the teasing continued.

"I learned to ignore them," he told me, "and if they didn't stop I learned to tell someone, either their teacher or mine."

Finally the teasing pretty much came to an end when Gabriel learned that money was also needed to turn the donated hair into a wig. When he set a fundraising target of $800, he realized he would have to make his plans public if he wanted people to donate.

Of course as soon as people learned why he had such long hair, almost everyone wanted to help him reach his goal. The list of supporters included: people at his dad's work, students in his class, the rest of the students at Hammond Bay school, a garage sale organized by his parents, and a bunch of happy customers at his various lemonade stands.

The donor list grew longer when family friends "hired" Gabriel to draw a picture for the cover of their wedding invitation. At the wedding the guests added another $200.

When I asked Gabriel if he would like to meet the person who will be getting the wig with his hair in it, he once again proved himself to be an amazingly mature young man.

"I doesn't matter to me," he told me as he pondered his response, "I just feel good giving something that I have made to some kid ... and I hope they like it."

I also asked him how he feels now that he has almost reached his goal - He'll be getting his hair cut on July 19. He paused for a minute before answering.

"I feel astonished with myself that I've done it," he exclaimed, "and now I'm going to be in the newspapers and on TV. That's fantastic!"

Next week I'll be producing a feature on Gabriel that will begin airing July 20 on Shaw Cable's The Daily, and next year his video and others will be seen by students across School District #68.

It takes twelve hair donations to make one wig so Gabriel hopes that all this media exposure will convince ten more kids (or adults) to join him and his friend, Callum, who has now started to grow his hair.

"If they don't join, I'll grow mine ten more times," he enthused but then, after giving it a sober second though, he adjusted his commitment. "Well maybe just five more times," he sighed.

Let me know if you would like to join Gabriel's "team". Email me at bill@nhero.org.