HAMILTON, Ohio — The kids at the Boys and Girls Clubs of Hamilton last week received free haircuts ahead of the upcoming school year thanks to Hue Mane Salon.
School starts anew for many around Butler County in the next few weeks, beginning with Fairfield this week and Hamilton on Aug. 12.
The free haircuts will give the kids them one less thing to worry about heading into a new school year, said Biz Jarvis, owner of Hue Mane Salon in Hamilton. She and Amy Michael, who works for Jarvis, were at the Grand Boulevard location of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Hamilton.
“They can go back to school with a really good haircut, so they can feel good and confident, and it’s one less thing that’s working against them,” said Jarvis, a former social worker. “If I can help level the playing field in the beginning of the school year, socially, via a haircut, that’s what I would like to do so that’s why I do it.”
And this volunteer work is also Jarvis paying it forward because “adults made a huge difference in my life as a kid, and I hope to make a similar difference.”
Partnerships are always important, said Boys and Girls Clubs of Hamilton CEO Tommy John. It’s especially so at back to school time “because back to school is not the same for all kids.”
“Helping the kids feel good for that first day of school, have a nice haircut, and that gives kids confidence as they start out the school year,” he said.
The Hamilton organization has done this in the past with others, such as with More Than A Cut Barbershop.
John said they want to continue this kind of outreach and partnership, and help give kids a haircut not just at back to school time. He said maybe this can grow into something “because it’s a need she’s identified, and an inequality.
Javis has plans to do more work in the community, and is in preliminary conversations with the Hamilton Community Foundation to see how she can do even more because she's still a social worker at heart.
“I would give until I had nothing else to give, and that’s not realistic,” she said. “The kids literally are the future and need to be poured into and loved on, and they deserve dignity just like everybody else.”
Though it was a risk for her to leave social work, given she invested a lot in her education to work in that field, but becoming a licensed cosmetologist and professional makeup artist, the risk paid off.
“This is a way I can marry that old career with this new career, and that’s really what’s most important to me is giving back and making an impact in the community,” she said.
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