When Sean Casey opened his first TwinCutz location in 2010, he was already involved in his Southwest Florida community.

“Even when I was a barber cutting hair, I did a lot of charity events in my community and worked with small businesses,” he says. “So when we opened up TwinCutz, I knew I wanted to give back.”

Casey saw some local businesses giving away school supplies during back-to-school time, and thought free haircuts would be the perfect way to do something similar with his team's skill set.

A Tradition is Born

While free haircuts are great, Casey decided a free backpack for every kid who got a haircut would be even better. So for the past 13 years, TwinCutz locations all offer free haircuts and backpacks the Sunday before school starts. With seven locations around Fort Meyers, Naples and Cape Coral, this makes a huge impact in the community.

“We invest our own money to purchase the backpacks—usually about 100 per location,” Casey says. “In the past, we’ve had local businesses buy supplies to fill the backpacks as well.”

With around eight to 10 barbers in each location, and each barber doing six to 10 hair cuts, TwinCutz achieve 1,000-1,200 free haircuts at the event.

Team Effort

While TwinCutz participates in other charity events that are optional to its barbers, the back to school event is mandatory.

“I give our barbers a heads up when they’re hired that we’re known for this event and we all participate,” he says. “And I treat them to an outing or incentivize them for doing it.

“We always have a lot of excitement surrounding the event, and our barbers feel positive after the experience,” he adds.

The community has also taken notice, and a couple year ago, the local news covered the event.

“A lot of people in the community know and respect us, and we’re able to serve more kids with our seven locations than we did in the beginning,” Casey says.

It’s a beautiful start to the school year, giving the community and the TwinCutz team a boot of positivity.