Haircuts For Those In Need was founded in May of 2018 by Charlene Thomas. Char was volunteering giving out food with a group called Buffalo's Good Neighbors. Every Sunday at Fireman's Park in downtown Buffalo between the bus station and the baseball stadium they would provide food to roughly 100 unhoused or in need individuals.
Char saw the desperate need of haircuts for our friends down in the park. Months later in the middle of winter she took a poll to see if anyone would be interested. Almost everyone said "Yes! I could use a free haircut!".
May 6th of 2018 , Haircuts For Those In Need provided their first free haircuts! Char posted on her social media pages asking for fellow cosmetologist and barber volunteers to help us give free haircuts to our community!
We needed supplies though, and we needed a lot of them! Char started thinking of all the things we needed and how can we follow NYS cosmetology/barber guidelines in a park.
It was decided then that disposable capes and towels would be needed as we were going to be giving out approximately 100 haircuts!
We would wear a new set of gloves for each person. A new comb, brush, hair picks, clips would be used per person and we would let them keep what was used on their hair. That way, they were able to upkeep their hair by having something to keep it untangled.
Each tool and non disposables that would be used would need to be disinfected too! Spray clippercide and barbicide wipes would do the trick! We would need a generator or cordless tools. We would need tents to keep us dry and out of the sun, folding chairs for guests to sit while we cut their hair, tables to place our supplies. Oh ya! Water bottles, leave in conditioner spray, no rinse shampoo, alcohol wipes, and seabreeze were needed too! Of course we would need totes to store everything in as well! It was quite the operation, and still is!
Char provided quite a bit of the supplies out of her own expenses. Then decided she cannot do this on her own. She made posts on social media asking for specific donations and so many gracious people came through!
Since 2018, we have provided 60-100 haircuts each month, and sometimes even more!
In May of 2019, Char had a small fundraiser at her salon. We raised money for supplies, insurance, and enough money to cover the cost of 501c3 status! In September of 2019 we were legally deemed a 501c3 nonprofit!
That is our story of how we came to be! The need was scene and action was taken!
