Barber to the Homeless

Who is My Brother?

By Barbara Comito

Ron, UGM's Day Room Manager, has been getting his hair cut at Dan's Barber Shop by Jody for about eight years. People are always commenting on Ron's perfect flat top. In fact, men in UGM's LIFE Recovery gave him the "Hair Excellence" award at an appreciation dinner earlier this year.

Several months ago, Jody brought her superior hair-cutting skills to the Union Gospel Mission. She volunteers every other Friday from 8 to 1 and generally does somewhere between 20-30 haircuts while she is here. I popped in this morning to ask her about her experience. She was cutting one man's hair with four others waiting in the small barber shop space.

Ron told me there was an interesting story behind how Jody got connected so I asked her how she got started.

"Well, I was considering it, so Ron invited me to come for a tour. I came in the west door where the admin offices are, and Ron showed me the dining room, the medical clinic, the counseling offices, and then he said, 'And this is the day room.' I peeked in, and..."

Jody stopped and excused herself. When she came back, she addressed the whole room, "When I saw all of you and all of you are trying to do something with your life, how could I not do something? It would have to be a pretty hard-hearted person who could just do nothing.

"Wasn't it Jesus who said, 'Who is my brother?' Well...these are my brothers."

Again, Jody had to stop. She wiped her eyes, apologized and ducked out of the room for a minute.

Kull, who was sitting in the barber chair mid-haircut said, "She's awesome. It's good to know there are people out there who actually care."

If you're considering how you might make an impact on the lives of the poor and homeless, we'd love to give you a tour of one of our facilities and talk about the possibilities. Just click on the link below for more information.