HAIR CUTS 4 HOMELESS

Hair cuts 4 Homeless started life with one man and a trim in a homeless hostel. But three-and-a-half years later, its founder Stewart Roberts estimates more than 300 volunteers have done an amazing 35,000 haircuts across the UK thanks to £46,040 of National Lottery funding that was awarded through The People’s Projects in 2017.

Salon owner Stewart set up the community group after seeing something similar over in the US. “I’m nearly 12 years sober myself so I do a lot of work with people with addiction problems,” he explains. “I saw this guy doing homeless makeovers in America, so the next time I was going to the Salvation Army shelter to help out I

thought I’d bring my scissors.”

Stewart, who has been a hairdresser for 40 years, says he never imagined the project would expand to other areas, “But once we saw the reaction from the homeless people, and how much it meant to them, it just spread quite easily.”

As a winner of 2017’s The People’s Projects, Haircuts 4 Homeless has been able to grow to more than 40 sites around the country from Glasgow to Dublin, Birmingham and Belfast, mostly in shelters and community centres where volunteers go every month to see regular clients.

“The funding was amazing because it allowed us to expand, and to get kits into all our groups so volunteers don’t have to take their own equipment with them,” explains Stewart.