KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Tennessee School of Beauty is offering free haircuts most of the summer for people who donate any amount of money to the Tennessee Suicide Prevention Network.
The idea came from Adam Brown, the president of TSB. He lost his son Logan four and a half years ago to suicide.
He says bringing awareness to the topic through free haircuts is beneficial not only to the organization, but to people who may need help.
"With all the talk about suicide, it just brought everything to the forefront," Brown thought. "We need to do something, there has to be a way to make more people aware of how to prevent suicide and so we just decided to come up with this idea and hopefully it's going to work."
Brown says so far about 25 people have come in for a new do, donating about $150. He feels like it is important to let people know about something that can be hard to talk about.
Everyone entering the salon may not know about the fundraiser, but once they find out, a lot have a personal connection to the cause.
Brylee Aldridge was at TSB planning to get a haircut, and she knew immediately she needed to donate.
"I didn't actually know about the donations for suicide awareness," Aldridge said. "But I think that's great because it's something I actually care about a lot. One of my family members tried to do that before, so it's deep from the heart."
The fundraiser is going on every Tuesday through Friday until June 23 and will pick back up again July 10. You don't have to have an appointment, but it is recommended. You can make an appointment on the TSB website or by calling (865) 588-7878
If you or someone you know is contemplating suicide, you can call the Suicide Prevention Hotline at 1-800-273-8255. You can also find more resources on the Tennessee Suicide Prevention Network website.