More than 200 children got haircuts and hairstyles and a backpack with school supplies at the 8th annual Mary Lou Hazelrigg Braids and Fades event, held Sunday at Bones Hooks Park in the North Heights community of Amarillo.
Barbers and hairstylists from across the city donated their time and effort to help students come to the first day of school with a fresh cut or style. Tremaine Brown, founder of the Vessel of Compassion and Humanity, was on hand as well to make sure every child who was signed up for haircuts got the vital school supplies that they needed.
Brown emphasized that while the event format was somewhat different this year, he was pleased with the work that was done.
“There are so many community organizations now in the city that have stepped up to help get these kids ready for school," Brown said. “While some may look at the numbers not suggesting we helped as many as in the past, but it really reflects that other community leaders and organizations are stepping it up. School supplies and haircuts are costly, so I know it helps parents. These parents, though, need to plan out the time for all these events to make it happen for their children. I am empathetic to how busy some parents are, but we all need to do our part to help these children, and some of this takes better planning from the parents to get the help they need for their children.”
Apollonia Grant, who attended the event to get school supplies for her children, felt the event was a blessing.
“This helps so many people in the community, and I am so grateful for it,” she said. “This event helps with the self-esteem of the children on the first day of school, having everything they need to start the year off right.”
Braids and Fades founder Lila Mitchell said that she sees the event as important to get children to start the school year with a needed haircut or style.
“I am so happy to have this every year; it brings great joy to the community for us to get together like this to help the children,” Mitchell said. “This event is so important to me. God gave me this vision, and I really want to get more people involved from across the Amarillo community to do what is best for the kids.”
She said that no other groups were doing haircuts when she started the event. While she praises all groups that do this, she wishes that there would be more cohesion to work together as a community to make it better for everyone to help the children. Mitchell also expressed concern with the timing of some of the events, which are too far in advance of school, which will leave some students needing a haircut again when school starts.
“We do our best to work to help these children by providing what the barbers and hairstylists need, such as fans,” she said. “I want to thank the families that let us help their children and all the volunteers that help make this happen every year. It is all about the children and helping them start on their best foot for the school year. I want more organizations to work together to make this happen.”
Jamia Mallard, a young hairstylist who has done hair since she was in the seventh grade, said that she volunteered to help the community's children.
“With this event, we are just showing that we can support each other in many different ways, and I will definitely be out here again next year to help get these students ready for school," she said.
Another stylist, Jaqueline Ervine, has been doing hair with the Braids and Fades event since its inception and says that it gives her great satisfaction to see the looks on the faces of children when they get their hair done.
“Seeing these kids happy and looking good just makes me feel so good that they go to school looking right,” she said. “It is great to see the community coming together out of love to take care of these children out of pure love. This gives me great fulfillment, knowing we are doing the right thing to help these kids.”
This article originally appeared on Amarillo Globe-News: 8th annual Braids and Fades gives students fresh cut or style to start off school year
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