SALON BY ZETTA

In 1989, Salon by Zetta contacted the Domestic Abuse Council, Inc. and offered to provide a holiday hair cutting party to the emergency shelter and transitional housing residents. This event has become an ongoing annual activity for the clients.

The Domestic Abuse Council, Inc. continues to be overwhelmed by this event. First, the cosmetologists donate their professional expertise by providing 30 to 40 women and children residents with free haircuts and manicures. Pizza, soda, cookies and snacks are provided by the Salon or donated by local establishments and Salon by Zetta customers. In addition Santa brings each child and mother a gift that has also been donated by Salon by Zetta or a customer.

The Salon is not very large, but the staff manages to provide all the families with a wonderful new haircut, manicure, food and gifts within several hours. The staff is still smiling once the busload of clients departs from their special time.

Many of the victims who enter the emergency shelter programs have been emotionally and/or verbally abused. Their self-esteem is low due to the abuse they have suffered, so this act of kindness not only provides the families with a gift for the holidays; but it also provides them with a sense of inner beauty while they are trying to start their life over. Some of the children have never had professional haircuts and are thrilled to be so pampered.

Salon by Zetta does not keep this event to themselves; they also involve the community in this annual event. Their customers participate by providing some gifts, local establishments contribute food and DOTS donate a bus for the shelter families to travel in. This annual event has a huge impact on the lives of the families it serves as well as the volunteers who participate. The staff and community members’ lives are enriched because they have made a difference in the lives of someone who genuinely needed some assistance.

Prior to assisting the Domestic Abuse Council, Inc., the Salon assisted an agency that helped children only. The Salon wanted to also include mothers, who may be overlooked during the holidays.

In addition to providing an annual haircutting party for residents from the Domestic Abuse Council, Inc., the Salon also participates in the Locks for Love project, which makes wigs for children who have lost their hair due to chemotherapy. They cut the hair free of charge, package it and send it to the organization that makes the wigs. The Salon also participates in Cut Out Domestic Violence, which is a project developed in 2003 by the Office of Attorney General in collaboration with the Florida Coalition Against Domestic Violence, to train hairstylists about the warning signs of domestic violence and provide customers with referrals to the appropriate domestic violence center. They also mount posters to increase awareness of domestic violence.