Andre’s Barber Shop recently gave free haircuts to its local community members on Monday as part of their initiative to take a step towards peace in their city of Rochester, New York. The barbershop owner, Andre Morrison, says that his mission is to educate the younger generation about how they can use preventive skills pertaining to violent situations.
“Some of the more negative images are placed out here especially for the youth, that’s what they see and that’s what they pick up so it’s important for us as community members and leaders to put out positive situations that they can follow,” said Morrison.
The room was a buzz, with both people and clippers that is, for the “cuts for peace” initiative. Not only did the kids get goodies such as haircuts, snacks, and balloons. This was also an opportunity to have an open conversation about what violence is, and what types of violence they may have been exposed to.
“We asked them questions, ‘OK what do you think some of the causes of this violence out here is?” and “What do you think some of the answers to solving it can be?” Morrison said.
The barbershop also teamed up with the Rochester Police Department, who also came along to the event, not only to answer any questions but to offer “Safe Child Identification Cards” – these are created by by scanning fingerprints, the information is logged in the New York State Safe Child database in case of an emergency.
image: www.whec.com