The light buzz of clippers can be heard as Teya Heller styles a customer’s hair. Heller, the community coordinator and hairstylist at Great Clips in Dickson City, cuts hair part-time.
The other half of her time she does community outreach. This weekend, haircuts from Heller and other area stylists will help children in need.
“Kids are the most precious gift anybody could have, and they deserve the world — they deserve to feel beautiful,” she said at the salon this week.
On Sunday, Oct. 18, Dickson City Great Clips, the Career Technology Center of Lackawanna County Cosmetology Program and Smash Hut NEPA will team up with Wigs For Kids for a day of fun and awareness.
The cut-a-thon event is being hosted at the student salon at the CTC, 3201 Rockwell Ave., Scranton, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The goal is to raise money and collect hair to make wigs for kids suffering from medical hair loss.
Community members can get a haircut for $20, while those donating 12 inches or more will receive a free haircut. No appointments are necessary.
Positive change
The founder of Wigs For Kids says seeing the impact of the organization never gets old.
“To see these kids become themselves from this withdrawn look… It’s like a miracle every time,” Jeffery Paul said.
Heller emphasized the simplicity of contributing to positive change.
“A dollar you give is a dollar towards making them feel like a completely different person,” she said. “It’ll make them feel beautiful or confident or whatever it may be. You’re helping a child become secure and safe in their image.”
The public can expect to have a day of games, raffle baskets and surprise guest appearances. Special guests include Andy the Armadillo from Texas Roadhouse, Chuck E. Cheese and Champ from the RailRiders. Smash Hut will be on site with their gourmet smash burgers, contributing 10% of the sales to Wigs For Kids.
Heller has been a NEPA resident for about 20 years and has been a hairstylist at Great Clips for 10. However, this is her first year in the community coordinator role.
She took notice of a lack of community post-pandemic and asked herself: “Is there a way that I can get us back into the community?”
This is the first cut-a-thon Great Clips is hosting, and she hopes it grows bigger as time progresses. She has been working directly with three volunteer hairstylists but projects 15 volunteers on Sunday.
‘Takes a village’
Wigs For Kids, based in Ohio, has been around since 1981. Paul had already been a hairdressing veteran, with clients ranging from presidents to models. Then a client who would change everything walked in.
His 15-year-old niece came into the salon crying, asking him to stop her hair from falling out due to her recent leukemia diagnosis.
The trajectory of his career was altered after that. He opened a private salon in a medical office after a flood destroyed his salon. He generated enough donations to his cause to land him non-profit status.
The organization has now branched out across the country, and it has made its way to Scranton. The collected hair will be donated to kids suffering hair loss due to medical conditions such as cancer treatment, burns, alopecia and other health-related challenges.
“It takes a village to raise a kid. It takes a nation to provide for the kids we have,” Paul said.