Dozens and dozens of local barbers came together Aug. 25 at the Alliant Energy Center to give over 800 free haircuts to kids in the Madison area as they get ready to go back to school.
The 16th annual Back 2 School Free Haircutz event was a community drive to provide children K-12th grade with free haircuts. By the end of the day, over 800 kids were reached in the annual effort to get young people in the area ready for the start of school. The organizer of the venture, Jeff “JP” Patterson, owner of JP Hair Design on Madison’s West Side, said it’s about health and confidence as children are about to head back to school.
The goal is to hit 1,000 each year. This year saw a jump from 700 to over 800 kids served as families still poured in after its end at 4 p.m.
“It’s been a really good turn out,” Patterson said. “The kids get free haircuts, they get to look good and feel good before they go back to school, but it’s a community event with the barbers. We’re all in different establishments that all come together for a common goal. You don’t see that in different cities.”
Parents were excited about the effort barbers put in. One parent, Michael Antimo, brought his seven-year-old son in preparation for the school year. While his son admittedly doesn’t get haircuts too often, he notes that confidence kids gain with a fresh cut to start the school year goes a long way.
“It was the right opportunity at the right time,” Antimo said. “It’s a new year and he’s starting to care about his looks. His hair is curly, but I feel a nice haircut would definitely change his appearance and mood, his personality. It definitely would give him a confidence boost.”
He notes that the costs of haircuts have shot up since his youth. It’s a rarity to find a kid’s haircut that doesn’t hit around $30-50 dollars now, a hike from the $15-20 from his childhood. Efforts like the Back 2 School Free Haircutz are more pocket friendly for families, Antimo said.
Health was an additional component to the free haircuts. Jefferson has been a longstanding advocate for Black men’s health. His location on Grand Canyon Drive houses a dedicated clinic in his barbershop.
Tables were set up with information on vaccines, registries, games and prizes for families.
The Dane County Immunization Coalition partnered with local healthcare professionals to help administer vital vaccines, like chickenpox; measles, mumps and rubella; polio; HPV; and Hepatitis A and B, to kids.
Volunteers at the table found themselves generally surprised with how current most parents are. Sarah Breon, director of health services at Madison Metropolitan School District and consultant for the mobile vaccine team at SSM Health, credits currentness with vaccines to events like Back 2 School Free Haircutz, but notes that there’s still a lot of work to go.
“There are lots of barriers to health care for our community. Some kids don’t have a relationship with their primary care physician. Some kids do, but because of access issues it takes months to get in. Some kids there’s language barriers, there’s transpiration barriers for their families,” Breon said.
Breon works to bring access to care to where families are. The event saw four vaccination stations set up to administer shots. Families were incentivized with gift cards for shoes to stay current on their kids’ vaccinations.
