WARSAW, Ind. -- For the third year, Empress Beauty Salon in Warsaw held their annual back-to-school event Wed., giving out 175 haircuts for kids ages pre-K to college at no cost.
“I started this because I have four kids of my own and I know how pricey haircuts can be, I mean they range, ours are $25 for kids cuts all the way up to $50 dollars… and I know how hard it can be especially for moms who have a lot of kids,” said the owner of Empress Beauty Salon, Carley Powell.
A mom of four, Gabrielle Flannery, has come to all three of the events. She said being able to take one thing off her school stress list means the world to her and helps her kids feel confident.
“It’s a lot, it’s a whole lot, especially when you have a family of four children and you’re just like… it’s exhausting… Like it’s very hard in this day in age and this stuff helps so much… Life is different since they started this and… got to see the community grow bigger and bigger and bigger… people reaching out and wanting to do more and it’s a very awesome thing… it’s incredible,” said Flannery.
This year, Powell said they are also doing a ‘golden ticket winner’. She will put all the names that got a haircut at the 3rd annual event into a drawing. The winner of that will receive a free haircut once a month for the rest of the 2025 school year.
“I wanted to be able to give back because if I wasn’t a cosmetologist or in a salon of my own, I would have to be paying out for those haircuts and that would be a lot on top of school supplies, school clothes, anything else the child might need for school and so I just want to be able to help the community and take some pressure and stress off of the family,” said Powell.