Kids’ Day at Praise Salon: Fresh Styles and Big Smiles
Recently, New Life Community Alliance’s Praise Salon welcomed 17 school-aged children for Kids’ Day: a day of free hair services, food, activities, and plenty of fun before the start of a new school year.
Each child received a hairstyle, along with bows, bonnets, headscarves, and other hair accessories. These extras gave them tools to help protect and maintain their new styles at home, while also giving them plenty of ways to express themselves and make each look their own.
Kids also went home with a bookbag filled with school supplies, taking one more item off their families’ back-to-school lists and helping them start the year ready to learn.
For many of the families NLCA serves, professional hair care is not always an expense the household budget can accommodate. Kids’ Day offered families extra support while giving children an experience designed especially for them.
According to Praise Salon Leader Donise Mathis, you could see the difference as soon as the kids looked in the mirror.
“As children finished their styles, we watched them look in the mirror, sit up a little straighter, and smile at themselves. There was something special about watching a child see themselves differently.”
One moment in particular stayed with Donise. A single dad brought his two daughters to Kids’ Day. When he saw their finished hairstyles, he became emotional.
“I wouldn’t have been able to do this,” he shared. “Thank you for doing this. My girls are so happy.”
That’s what Kids’ Day was all about. Volunteers met a practical need for families while giving children a space to feel celebrated, cared for, and confident.
With fresh hairstyles and bookbags in hand, 17 kids carried the confidence they found in the salon chair with them into the new school year.
NLCA is grateful for the volunteers who gave their time and talents to make the day possible. Want to help create more moments like this for our community? Sign up to volunteer with NLCA.
