Barber offers free haircuts to people in need

MARION - A downtown Marion business owner extended a helping hand to local men who've been struggling financially.

Nathan Riddle, of Nathan's Barber Shop at 179 S. Main St., provided free haircuts Monday for Marion County men who didn't have the funds available to pay for a trim. The shop is usually closed on Mondays, but Riddle and his fellow barbers, Ian Cooper and Ben Meade, came in on their own time to do the good deed.

The idea of providing the free haircuts to people in need was first mentioned to Riddle by regular customer Jenna Griffith, who brings her two sons from Union County to get their hair cut at Nathan's. Riddle said Griffith's 8-year old son, Austin, wanted to donate his Christmas money to help men in need receive free haircuts. Riddle and his fellow barbers immediately embraced the giving spirit and put the idea into play.

"We dropped off vouchers for free haircuts to the Buckeye Residential Housing, the homeless shelters, Children Services and Turning Point," Riddle said. "Anybody that had those could come in and get a free haircut for themselves or their kids. We gave out 45 vouchers. We take care of a lot of those guys when they can get together enough money to come in here to get a haircut, so we figured just open the shop up for a day to help them."

Marion resident Cody Davis was one of the 20 men who stopped by Nathan's Barber Shop to exchange the voucher for a free trim. Davis, who said he is a recovering addict who is undergoing treatment at Foundation Recovery Center in Marion, appreciated Riddle's outreach to the community.

"It's pretty nice for a lot of us, really, because some of us don't have the money to pay for a haircut right now," Davis said. "For some people that are recovering addicts right now, you know, some of us don't have money. Some of us can't get jobs right now because we're in recovery. We're just trying to move on with our life and do better things."

Davis said he is making progress on his journey toward sobriety.

"I've been at Foundations for two months, but I've got 80 days of sobriety today (Monday)," he said, which drew congratulations from Cooper, who was cutting his hair at the time, and fellow barbers Riddle and Meade.

Curtis Thomas, of Marion, was receiving a haircut from Meade at the same time that Davis was in the shop. He praised the staff at Nathan's for their act of charity.

"I think it's a great show of wanting to help better our community," he said. "Donating their time and skills to show that they care about Marion I think is great."

Riddle said he hopes to continue the free haircut day in the future.

"My wife and I talked about it, and we'd like to do it once a year, if not quarterly," he said.

Capping off the day of giving, Pesto Quick Italian, owned by Joe Sansotta, provided a complimentary lunch for the men who dropped in Monday.

Riddle has been a barber for five years and has operated the shop on South Main Street for the past three years. Cooper joined the staff three years ago, moving over from Southland Barbers. Meade became a member of Nathan's cutting crew after graduating from barber school in August 2015.

A Marion native, Riddle said he purposely located his business in the downtown district to make a positive contribution to the community. He said his clientele includes people from all walks of life in Marion County.

"We moved downtown to be a good business, not one of these in and out, fly by night types, or whatever," he said. "And it's worked out great. Everybody loves the location. We cut hair for young, old, white, black, Hispanic, Asian, everybody comes here. It's doing well."

Nathan's Barber Shop is open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday. Riddle said he and his staff cut hair by appointment only Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. Walk-in customers are accepted only Wednesdays and Saturdays.

For information or to make an appointment, call 740-382-1609. Information also  is available at the shop's Facebook page, Nathan's Barber Shop. Appointments can be booked through the Facebook page.

eacarter@gannett.com

740-375-5154

Twitter: @AndrewCarterMS