Aug 14, 2017 By Harry Funk 4 min read

When she started raising money to buy wigs for women with cancer, Jeannie Gabbay had no idea how to choose the first recipient.

Some customers of Moxie Cloth, her clothing boutique on Mt. Lebanon Boulevard, helped solve that issue.

Their afflicted friend had lost her hair, and as one of the women told Gabbay: “We have this young mom. She has these two young boys. She walked into the bedroom of her son and forgot to put her hat on, and her son screamed and devastated her. And she’s in the fight of her life.”

That was in October, Breast Cancer Awareness Month. And by Thanksgiving, the young mother received the gift of a high-quality hairpiece.

“The point is, these women are beautiful,” said Gabbay, a Mt. Lebanon resident. “It’s like all of a sudden, they’re sick. And yet we want them to fight the fight of their life with no hair, no eyebrows and no eyelashes. If we can just give that back to them, so that they can look in the mirror and fall in love with themselves again, then they have the strength to fight.”

Moxie’s Mane, as she calls the fundraising effort, is about to donate its second human-hair wig, another top-of-the line product with a price tag of about $2,000.

“Wigs are not covered by insurance. You lose your eyelashes, your eyebrows,” Gabbay pointed out. “But Viagra is.”

Gabbay has received donations from dozens of nearby businesses toward drawings of gift baskets that she conducts regularly at the store, with all of the proceeds going to Moxie’s Mane.

“These customers, every time I ask them for some money, they come and support,” she said. “They pull five bucks, 10 bucks out of their pocket every single time.”

One who likes to lend her support is Patricia Fritsch of Castle Shannon.

“All women should be beautiful inside and out, and when you’re struggling, you need your support system. And they’re great for that,” she said about Gabbay and her husband, Mo, who also is a business-day fixture at the shop.

The idea for Moxie’s Mane came when Jeannie and her daughter, Pazi, attended a not-as-successful fundraiser last year for the benefit of abused children.

“They just needed help, and nobody would want to donate,” Pazi, who will be a sophomore at Mt. Lebanon High School, said. “And I was annoyed about it.”

At that point, she suggested to her mother that they take the initiative to help people, and Jeannie readily agreed. And because both of them have heads of long, flowing hair, they decided to provide for women who are without.

“All these people are great people, and they deserve to feel beautiful on the outside,” Pazi said. “I thought they needed a boost of confidence.”

A “hair-raising fundraiser” party at Moxie Cloth in March brought in a considerable amount of money, and Jeannie is planning more activities for October.

In the meantime, the Gabbays do ask something of recipients, now and in the future.

“Every woman who gets a wig has to give back to Moxie’s Mane. She has to find a way to help us replenish,” Jeannie said. “The girl who received the wig, she had another party. We raised a thousand dollars that night, just in donations.”

The philanthropic efforts represent an extension of her vision for the boutique.

“This place should feed your soul,” she said. “It should give you a place of comfort in a time of need. It should be a place for friends to gather.”