WAKEFIELD — Visitors to the Father Greenan Parish Center at St. Francis of Assisi Parish on a recent Tuesday might have wondered how they accidentally wandered into a barber shop.
The scene had all the touches of a classic barber’s – men exchanging small talk as they waited their turn in well-worn chairs, a man up front taking walk-ins’ names on a list and in the back, five barbers working furiously at their craft while the buzz of electric shavers competed with the noise of a hits playlist coming over the stereo. Add a red-and-white-striped barber’s pole outside the front door and the hall could have been open for business.
Though the five staff on hand were all professional barbers, some with barber’s competition awards under their belts, no one was paying for a haircut at the Father Greenan Center. The event was part of an initiative called Haircuts for Hope, a partnership between the parish and a local barber shop to provide free haircuts along with clothing, winter coats and dental screenings to homeless men.
The idea started with Christina Moynihan, a pastoral assistant who organizes many of the parish’s outreach activities. Moynihan said that while many initiatives exist in the community to target the needs of women, she wanted to do something to help meet the needs of homeless and impoverished men.
“I feel it’s easy to do advocacy service for women,” she said. “This was a good way to do something for men.”
Moynihan enlisted the help of the parish Men of St. Joseph, and the group immediately set out to create an atmosphere that would be welcoming and supportive of the male homeless community. Moynihan compiled a list of local barber shops and began making phone calls, expecting to call several businesses before finding someone willing to volunteer their time to the kind of event she had in mind. She didn’t know that on the first phone call, she would get Pedro Torres, owner of nearby Jordan New Style Barber Shop, on the other end of the line.
“She called me and I said yes. I was so excited,” said Torres.
As it turned out, Torres had been looking for just such an opportunity to give back. The small business owner had a rocky personal history before opening his shop and hoped to reach out and share some of his story, along with a free haircut, with those struggling through their own situations. The way Moynihan sees it, it wasn’t by chance that two people with the same goal located just around the corner from each other were brought together.
“I just think it’s a God thing. When everything is on the same length, it’s just the Holy Spirit,” she said.
After that, volunteers stepped in to put the rest of the pieces in place. Keith Lescarbeau, a member of the Men of St. Joseph, rented a van to transport men from local homeless shelters to the parish, while other volunteers set up racks of clothing and coats and organized refreshments. Dr. Ernest “Buzz” Corner, a member of the Men of St. Joseph and practicing dentist, set up an area to perform free dental and oral cancer screenings.
“Because they are constantly moving around, medical and dental gets put to the back,” he said. “They’ve got other priorities. They’ve got to get their life together.”
The parish even hosted several young men from Phi Mu Delta fraternity at the University of Rhode Island who volunteered their time distributing clothes and setting up and breaking down the event. According to Eric Hernandez, a sophomore nursing student from Boston, Jordan New Style Barber Shop is popular among the fraternity brothers.
“A lot of the kids in our fraternity get our hair cut at Jordan’s,” said Hernandez. “We just came and we’re just trying to make sure everyone has a really good day. Help them pick out what kinds of clothes they’re looking for.”
As for the main event, men from five local shelters waited patiently to see the barbers of Jordan New Style, who offered everything from simple buzz cuts to complex hair designs. Torres closed his shop for the day and brought his staff of four along with him to St. Francis of Assisi, all talented young men easygoing with the customers but serious about cutting hair. If they were lucky, patrons might get a haircut from Torres himself, who was happy to share advice and conversation as he worked.
“I used to be a heroin addict myself. I struggled in and out of prison,” Torres told Rhode Island Catholic in between haircuts. “I was fortunate to be able to open my shop and I always want to give back.”
Torres named his barber shop after his son, Jordan, who in turn was named for the famous basketball player. He also raises his daughter and two stepkids and considers himself a changed man. He said he tries to treat everyone with respect and serve as an example for his staff and the customers he meets.
“They love it. I let them know that I’ve been in that situation before,” he said. “Talking to them about it, a lot of them cannot believe it. If I’m doing it, you can do it, too.”
Many of the patrons expressed their gratitude for the haircuts and winter clothing. Marco Muniz, who traveled from Providence to attend, said he was especially grateful for the transportation and happy to meet some volunteers who spoke his native Spanish.
“They went to pick us up. It was wonderful,” he said.
Moynihan plans to make Haircuts for Hope a regular occurrence, with another possible event planned for the summer season. This time, she knows she won’t have to look far for help.
“I told her she can count on us,” said Torres.
