More than ever, the act of lending a helping hand and using your voice to help others is needed in today’s society. The sense of community and helping to humanize others is an act that we all should practice daily, and this one Philadelphia barber is making sure he practices those actions one haircut at a time.
Joshua Santiago is the CEO of the non-profit organization “Empowering Cuts,” and he has been going around his community and offering free cuts to the homeless and using his platform to help tell their stories to the masses.
Since graduating from barber school, he has been going around and helping to change the imagery of his community. He has been offering free haircuts to the homeless from the trunk of his car, and he has also been visiting local homeless shelters to do the same. Aside from helping the homeless, he has also used his sources to help out other underprivileged families.
“I have dedicated my career to humanizing the homeless and giving hope to the hopeless. There are everyday people that we walk by and may not know how hard they have it,” said Joshua. “Everyone can use a hand. Especially coming from where I’m from. I also realized this was my calling when I noticed it was more to it than just barbering.”
He is now looking to elevate his efforts as he works to renovate an old RV and transform it into his own mobile barbershop to help better serve his community.
He said, “My greatest hopes and dreams as I transition my business are that I am able to be 10 times more effective at my mission of humanizing the homeless and giving hope to the hopeless.”
Joshua continued, “I’ve done so much with so little that whenever I can get more whether it’s a better set of clippers or this RV that I know I can create a more valuable experience for these individuals. I hope to be able to build more connections throughout the country to grow ‘Empowering Cuts.’”
Social media has been an essential tool when it comes to businesses, and Joshua has been using his platform to also tell the stories of those he helps by sharing their testimonials.
When talking about why he decided to use his platform to tell these individuals stories, he said, “I tell their stories because there are so many misconceptions about these individuals. People think that just because someone is homeless that they’re lazy, drug addicts, this and that, etc. Sometimes people just have a rough shake at life and didn’t have the resources to rebound from them.”
“That could be me. You. Anyone. The people I interview are some of the nicest and most intelligent individuals I have ever met. Their stories deserve to be told just as much as any celebrity in the public eye.”
With all of the work he has done within his community, Joshua talked about what he would want his everlasting legacy to be and said, “That I create something so effective that it lives on after my time and I actually successfully completed my goal of humanizing the homeless/giving hope to the hopeless.”
Check out Joshua’s GoFundMe here.
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TSR STAFF: Jade Ashley @Jade_Ashley94
