WBI BARBER’S FATHERS DAY GIFT TO WEST VALLEY “YMCA”

13 OF WBI’S FINEST BARBERS SHINE ON DAD’S DAY AT WEST VALLEY YMCA

When I called Senior Activities Director Kerry Antune to connect WBI to the West Valley YMCA in Reseda for Father’s Day,  it was an immediate and sincere connection. Was the YMCA interested in doing a Father’s Day event with WBI? The answer was gratifying. “OH, MY GOD, Yes!” Kerry had been looking for something special and more personal to offer her member Dads and Sons. June 19th was the day, and barbers signed on for the day, donating their services for love of dads.

Everybody loves the “Y” and this one has a great activities director. Kerry organized the ideal room, the workout cycles faced the floor to ceiling mirrors and the polished wood floor was absolutely perfect for barbers to stand and work on.

The event was only announced on bulletin boards on small flyers, on June 19th from 1:30 to 5:30, but clearly word had spread like wildfire. Y members were already lined up at 1pm and by 1:10 the barbers were set up and the first “customers” were filing in and sitting in the chairs waiting for a fresh look.

The West Valley YMCA, located on 18810 Vanowen Street in Reseda, sits in the middle of one of LA”s most diverse neighborhoods. In the course of the 4 1/2 hours that the WBI barber students were working non-stop, they cut a veritible United Nations of hair: 60 heads of Asian, Latino, Indian, Persian, Russian, African-American and American Caucasian hair. This is a huge learning experience that benefit the students as much, if not more, than the clients. Dads and sons got the royal treatment; a few parents sighed with relief as their teenage kid’s hair ‘finally’ got cut; a few dads [and moms] brought their young sons for their first haircuts. For some, it was a rite of passage.

Tiny Lam, 4, sitting on a stack of books [borrowed from the Y book sale] shed a few tears until he realized that it didn’t hurt. Macauley Culkin look-alike, Jesse, 8, had a dramatic Harry Potter-like scar running from ear to ear from a an old brain operation under his long hair. He had always covered it, but now, gentle Jesse wanted a manly buzz cut like Robert Sheerer, the barber.

 After asking Jesse [at least] five times if he was sure, and getting the OK from Jesse’s appreciative but protective dad, Matt,  Robert gently cut the hair down to the buzz cut Jessie wanted. 

Out of earshot, Matt confided that he was “worried that kids would tease him about the scar” but Jesse was determined. He went from looking like “Home Alone” to  Tatum Channing of “GI Joe.” Brave Jessie is a real original, and he strolled out of the ‘barbershop’ like a man, not a little boy. 

Clearly Robert was touched while cutting the hair; he has a son,Ryan, close to Jesse’s age, and the scar was a reminder of the fragility of kids.