OOD DecJan22.qxp_Issue 74 17/11/2021 12:15 Page 8
Our Community
HUMANISING THE FACE OF HOMELESSNESS Everyone knows the feeling when you get a haircut; it’s a confidence booster, especially if it’s been a while. I’m Jackie McColl, Team leader for the Haircuts 4 Homeless charity in the Manchester area. Haircuts 4 Homeless has been putting smiles on faces of the less fortunate since 2014 when it was founded by veteran hairdresser Stewart Roberts in Romford. I was honoured to be appointed Team leader for Manchester three years ago when the charity expanded to the north of England. There are over 60 projects supported by over 600 volunteer hairdressers and barbers nationwide. We use our hairdressing talents to make a difference. I can definitely say that they are the most satisfying haircuts I do. To see and feel the difference a haircut can make, engaging and building trust, chatting and having eye contact and giving them some dignity and confidence back - it’s amazing.
8 ON OUR DOORSTEP
We work in a variety of projects, shelters and drop in centres for rough sleepers or live-in families who receive support in getting off the streets into their own accommodation. We’ve given over 40,000 free haircuts so far! Unfortunately, due to the pandemic, we lost our funding when we couldn’t provide our services. It feels like we are rebuilding and starting again but we will definitely be bigger and stronger as we are inundated with requests from projects that we never knew existed. We need more volunteers to help out in the projects. Qualified hairstylists can email: info@haircuts4homeless.com The charity has recently started a crowd funder to raise funds to publish a beautiful high quality desk book which captures amazing images of the work we do. All profits from the book will help fund the charity to carry on providing our much needed service.
“It’s not just a haircut, it’s so much more than that.”
