Around 200 kids got free haircuts to kick off the school year on Labor Day thanks to the generosity of a St. Paul barbershop.
There's no better feeling for kids than walking into school with new supplies and a fresh haircut.
"It's great self esteem for our kids, especially our young black boys to come into school the first day dressed up and hair done, feeling good," Iggy Showers, who brought her three boys entering kindergarten, 3rd grade and 7th grade to King Milan's Barbershop in Frogtown Monday. "It gives them confidence the first few weeks of school. I think our young kids need that."
Normally she pays $15 to $25 dollars each haircut. Add in all the school supplies and it can be a stressful time for parents, owner Milan Dennie said.
"I grew up in a household with a single mom," he said while cutting a boy's hair. "It was hard for her to get things for us when we were growing up, so when I got older and able to do something like this, I always knew that I would give back like this."
The annual event is a community effort with free haircuts and backpacks, along with a barbeque, a fun bus with video games and other Labor Day fun. The Wilder Foundation lends a hand, McDonalds donated desserts and the St. Paul Saints offered free tickets for a giveaway, but it's mostly carried out by Dennie and volunteers. Dennie says it's average people in the neighborhood who donate supplies and provide help so it's fun and runs smoothly.
"It can get a little expensive, but we manage to get it done," he said.
Volunteers say they're encouraged by the heavily-attended event.
"Just trying to reach out to the community and make it better," Cecil Alston with the Teamsters National Black Caucus of Minnesota. "Help the parents that can't afford to have their kids' hair cut and parents who can't afford to buy their kids' school supplies and things like that, so that's what we're all about.
"It just makes me feel good about myself knowing I can give back and it's appreciated," Frederick McKinney, who operated the barbeque, said. "Sometimes people are looking for a handout instead of giving and it's always good to give."
Showers heard about the event on social media through a friend and was excited.
"I love it that it's the people that live in the community that's giving back," she said, adding that she appreciated that King Milan's Barbershop is adept at working with all kinds of hair textures. "I love that our young boys get to see entrepreneurship and all that good stuff from the black men that's in there. I'm actually not from St. Paul, so I'm coming across the river just to experience this, so this is dope."
Dennie gets one break for lunch but he's otherwise using his clippers with precision on each boy in his chair, wiping them clean with a brush once he's finished. With lines starting at least two hours before the first scheduled appointment, there's clearly a need for a free, quality haircuts to help ease the burden on back-to-school time, especially for families with multiple children.
Dennie moved to St. Paul from Indiana five years ago and has his own nonprofit off the ground called It's Our Neighborhood. He wants kids in the community to be steered toward entrepreneurship, like himself.
Using his small business with four barber chairs, he hopes something as customary as a back-to-school haircut can send a positive message.
"In the news we see a lot about troubled youths so we just want to try to target that problem in any way that we can," he said. "Unifying and coming together and showing the kids that we do care about them because, first of all, a lot of the kids might not believe that. We try to do this and show, yeah we do care, and we want to send them off to school ready for success."
