The community space at Church at the Park’s family micro shelter site is large enough that several of the residents’ tiny homes sit inside of it.
On a quiet Thursday night, volunteer hairdressers snaked orange extension cords from one of the communal bathrooms, a private stall with a shower and lock, to the picnic tables near the kitchen. They laid out scissors and electric razors, and draped capes for their clients over chairs.
Soon, the children and parents arrived. The room filled with friendly chatter, the roar of hair dryers and the scent of berry detangler spray.
It’s the second time that the Salem stake of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has organized back to school haircuts for the kids and parents at the Salem shelter. The site shelters 135 children, youth and adults on Northeast Portland Road.
On Thursday, Aug. 29, four volunteer stylists from the church’s network drove from Salem, Keizer and Monmouth. Each did about five haircuts over the course of two hours.
One of the first clients, a girl about to enter the first grade, giggled as hairdresser Maya Shinkle sprayed her hair down. The girl held a new purple brush, and lifted it up to see it sparkle under the warehouse lights. By the end of the night, she accumulated at least four sparkly blue, pink and purple scrunchies from the donation table to wear on her arm.
Event organizer Theresa Parr said church members purchased the entirety of the Amazon wish list of hair supply donations for the event within four hours. Parr got a call from a church member as soon as the last item sold, asking her to think of more things to add.
“I was like, OK, I’ll add some more,” Parr said, and laughed. “They’re super, super giving.”
The church has a good relationship with the family shelter, Parr said. Every Sunday, members of all ages bring deserts and games for community nights.
The haircuts began last year, when the site’s chaplain, Jess Bashioum, told Parr that the families didn’t have regular access to hairdressers. Parr figured there would be some options within the local church network. She was right. Ten hairdressers showed up and served 70 people.
This year had a smaller crowd, but the organizers and hairdressers kept plenty busy. Parr went between helping kids pick out brushes to helping translate Spanish between hairdressers and parents. When one haircut was finished, the next one began.
Teenagers who appeared apprehensive at first ended up getting chattier as the haircuts went on. One expressed embarrassment at the length of his hair as south Salem hairdresser Alicia Bray helped him decide what to do with it.
Cheyenne McDougall, Church at the Park assistant manager, assured him his existing hair was very cool.
“Do you think Justin Bieber’s cool?” McDougall asked him, referring to the singer’s iconic hair in the early 2010s. The teen winced. “Not really? Nevermind.”
McDougall said community members sometimes reach out offering services for the shelter, including another hairdresser who’s come twice. About once a month, they’ll have a special event for the families, like a barbecue. The other day, they took a shuttle trip to enjoy Riverfront Park to celebrate the end of summer break.
The back to school haircuts help build confidence, McDougall said, and show that unhoused people need more than just shelter and the essentials.
“To the residents that live here, it shows that there’s a community of people that care about them. I think the biggest thing that this emphasizes is dignity,” she said.
One of the last clients that night was Flor Chavez, a mom of three. She’s been at the shelter for about a year, and said that in her time on the streets she saw people be dismissed and judged for being homeless.
She said Thursday’s event was good to see.
“It shows there’s still good people in the community,” she said.
Contact reporter Abbey McDonald: [email protected] or 503-575-1251.
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Abbey McDonald joined the Salem Reporter in 2022. She previously worked as the business reporter at The Astorian, where she covered labor issues, health care and social services. A University of Oregon grad, she has also reported for the Malheur Enterprise, The News-Review and Willamette Week.
