Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Barber, hairdresser join forces to Cut Out Hunger
ROGERS — Gary Townzen can hardly remember why he started Cut Out Hunger so many years ago.
Townzen and Debbie Trammell of Rumors Hair & Nail Spa will be giving free haircuts at the 32nd annual event, which will be Saturday at Townzen Barber Shop on First Street.
It starts at 8 a.m. and lasts until everyone is served. Pizza and soft drinks will be available from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Donations are suggested, and they benefit the food outreach of the Samaritan Community Center.
“I’ve done this since 1986, it’s just an easy way — one day a year — to support a good organization,” Townzen said while cutting hair, scissors in hand and a long-handle neck duster in his back pocket. He took over the family owned Townzen Barber Shop in 1969.
“The Samaritan Center can do amazing things with a dollar,” he said.
Debbie Trammell, who has volunteered her haircutting services at the benefit for a decade, said, “It’s a big party. Some of the same people come in year after year and they donate. It goes for a great cause.”
Trammell said she started volunteering because the thought of area children going hungry on a daily basis is unacceptable.
“Helping with this event is the least I can do,” Trammell said. “Dropping $20 can go toward a lot of food,” she said, because Samaritan Center Executive Director Debbie Rambo is a good steward of that money.
One benefit of the long-standing event is that people know it’s coming and make a point to donate even if they’re headed out of town. A peek Thursday into the tin cans at the barber shop and the Jiffy Kwik just across the train tracks, showed $2,000 already raised.
Rambo said total donations in past years ranged between $3,000 and $20,000.
“We’re hoping to have a good year,” she said. “You can come have lunch, get a haircut and get ready for Christmas.”
All donations go toward making Snack Packs, backpacks filled with snacks and easy, no-cook meals, for 6,200 kids per week and the center’s two markets, which distribute food to people in need. The Rogers market is open Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday mornings and the Springdale market is open Tuesday and Wednesday mornings.
Food is central to the Samaritan Center mission, which is to care for those in need, treat them with dignity and respect, while also providing food and clothing, according to its website.
The center has a commercial garden on site, a full-time gardener and grows lettuce hydroponically year-round. It grew 20,000 pounds of food this year, but Rambo said they always need more food. The center’s pantry serves 10,000 people annually.
“Poverty and obesity go hand-in-hand because filling food is cheap” and less nutritious, Rambo said.
Donations from Cut Out Hunger help provide the center’s market with health-conscious foods, like eggs, yogurt, ground turkey and fresh produce.
“This event wouldn’t be the same without Gary,” Rambo said of Cut Out Hunger’s consistent success. “He’s a generous person, but he does it with humility and character, in the true giving spirit.”