Conn. Police Department, Barber Partner Give Kids Haircuts for School

EAST HARTFORD, CT—Fifty kids will head to school with fresh haircuts and school supplies thanks to a continuing partnership between local police and a Main Street barber.

"You look so handsome!" Maria Castillo told her 5-year-old son, Alyzer, Monday morning after he climbed down from a chair at Elexio's Barber Shop with a precision cut and arrow-straight part.

The third annual Haircut with a Cop teamed the local barber with East Hartford police and other sponsors, including Pepsi, Diligence Training, New Life Worship Center in Hartford, and Fruit Town in East Haven.

Ten barbers donated their time from 8:30 to 11 a.m., shop owner Elexio Lopez said. Normally, a boy's haircut costs $30, Lopez said. Kids also received free backpacks, school supplies and sneakers.

"I'm a single mom, so it helps a lot," Castillo said.

Community Police Officer David Flores, 45, said he used to get his hair cut at Elexio's "when I had hair," motioning to his now-bald dome. The idea for Haircut with a Cop, Flores said, sprung from other efforts by local police to forge stronger ties with the community, including Coffee with a Cop, Sandwich with a Cop, and Ice Cream with a Cop.

"I said to myself, 'How great would it be to have free haircuts for these families that are hurting, trying to make ends meet,'" Flores said.

He approached his friend, Lopez, with the idea, asking if he and two or three other barbers would donate their time — "and he came back and said, 'I'll give you the whole shop,'" Flores said.

The event helps level the field for low-income parents who may not have money to buy haircuts and backpacks and new sneakers so their children feel positive and confident as they start the school year, Flores said. A $30 haircut may not mean much to some people, but for others, "it means the world," he said. Lopez, who has owned the shop for 18 years, said he is always ready to help the community, and the need is particularly strong this year.

"Inflation is hitting people hard," he said.

Some parents came to the barber shop from Hartford and Manchester and other towns. Flores said the program is mainly meant to benefit East Hartford families, but he would not turn anyone away.

Haircut with a Cop has expanded each of the past three years, but so far, boys have been the focus. The plan for next year is to benefit girls, too, possibly with donated vouchers for back-to-school cuts and styles at local salons, Flores said.

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