Meet Barbara Goodson of Have Shears Will Travel

Today we’d like to introduce you to Barbara Goodson.

Have Shears Will Travel, a registered 501c3, has been providing free haircuts and grooming needs since April 2015. In that short time, we have met many important milestones, serving over 4,000 homeless, hospice and special needs adults by networking with over 20 nonprofit service agencies, hospice and rehab care providers throughout greater Houston. In order to advance our mission, in the fourth quarter of 2016 we were successful in purchasing a pre-owned motorhome which was converted into a mobile hair salon enabling us to increase our number served to over 400 per month. Have Shears Will Travel partners to provide pro bono haircuts and an uplifted spirit to residents of the following non-profit organizations serving homeless individuals, and hospice and rehabilitation patients in the Greater Houston area including:

SEARCH (Thornton St), Santa Maria (Jacquelyn St-women’s shelter), Building & Storing Hope Adult Day Care (handicapped & special needs adults), The Beacon (homeless outreach downtown Houston), Lord of the Streets (homeless outreach mid-town Houston), Crossroads @ Park Place (homeless outreach SE Houston), Star of Hope (W Rittenhouse off I45 S), Open Door Mission (men’s recovery shelter), Angela House (women’s shelter—prison release), St Isidore, Loads of Love – Wash n Dry (I-45), SEARCH (N.Fwy), Santa Maria (Parker Rd-women/children shelter), Sally’s House (women’s recovery shelter), St Joseph’s House (mid-town), Mission of Yahweh (women’s shelter), Seasons Hospice, Kingwood Rehab, Baytown Harbor Hospice, Salvation Army Day Center, Dress For Success, Work Faith Connection, Catholic Charities.

In addition to networking with local nonprofit agencies, Have Shears Will Travel accepts requests from local church pastoral ministries that may have members with physical restrictions due to surgery, unable to obtain hair care. Have Shears Will Travel provides its services within the privacy of their homes, a hospital or nursing home. It has been recognized by and supported by:

The Elkins Foundation $10,000 grant
St. Philip Presbyterian Church Central Mission Endowment Fund $5000 grant
Harry S & Isabel C Cameron Foundation $5,000.00 grant
United Way Greater Houston’s Community Building Grant $5,000.00
St. Luke’s United Methodist Church – Houston Project $5,000.00 grant
National ECW Women to Women $1,500.00 grant
Episcopal Church Women $2,000.00 (Outreach) grant
The Medallion Foundation, Inc. $1,000.00 grant
Bishop Suffragan of the Episcopal Diocese of Texas, Jeff Fisher
It has captured the attention of the public through featured articles published in The Houston Chronicle (2015) and as one of Houston’s Heroes 2017 in the Houston Chronicle, The Diolog (2015), Sally MacDonald of Fox 26 News and Grace White of Channel 11.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The biggest struggles have been learning to write grants; something I’d never done until 2015. We needed funding in order to realize the dream of converting an RV into a mobile hair unit and that was a costly purchase. United Way was the first agency to recognize the significant impact our service could have on the homeless community and it was the first grant I tackle that produced our initial funds of $5000 toward this purchase. It took another $23,000 to finish the project; all funded by grants. And, because we do not charge clients of the agencies we serve, I must continue to look for grants, corporations, individual and religious organizations to help us with our operating costs that run about $6000 per month. Currently we have one full-time stylist, a driver and two part-time stylists to cover over 20 service locations per month. We are always looking for volunteer stylists to help our ever-growing service areas. I personally serve the hospice and hospital locations where the RV is not necessary and I know the hospice agencies could use more help. And, because we are such a new charity, it was difficult for some foundations to support us because we had no financial records; but despite that fact, we were fortunate that many philanthropic persons saw our vision and helped. My board of directors as well as one of our biggest supporters, Bishop Fisher of the Episcopal Church see this charity expanding, similar to a franchise, to any other big city where homelessness is an issue. We can take the marketing plan that got Have Shears Will Travel on the road and find someone in Dallas, San Antonio, Austin or New Orleans that would want to follow in our foot steps to make these services available in their communities. Why not?

Please tell us about Have Shears Will Travel.
There is no other charity in Houston (that we are aware of) that provides free haircuts, shaves, beard trims and grooming services within a mobile hair unit on a regularly scheduled monthly rotation to homeless, hospice and special needs adults. When I first began in 2015, I packed up my barber and beauty supplies in the trunk of my car and set up “shop” within the confines of whatever room the agency I was serving would put me. In some cases, I worked in a basement and/or a stairwell or maybe a small room. All I needed was an electrical outlet and a chair because I supplied everything else. Some days, at the large shelters, I would work from 9am until 5pm non-stop giving 25-30 haircuts. Now, with the aid of a driver, one full-time stylists and two part-time stylists, I am able to devote more of my time to seeking funding through grants, rotary clubs, individuals and corporations. This also gives me time to devote to speaking engagements to churches, chambers and rotary clubs to bring awareness to our services to recruit volunteers and raise money for operating costs.

Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
Fishing and water skiing with my Dad. We had a lake house on Lake Livingston and because both me and my Dad were early risers, he would take me while there was still fog on the lake when the water was crystal clear and calm where you could see your face in the water as the ski would glide through it like cutting butter with a hot knife. My Dad was also the model I used to get my barber’s license back in 1978. He’s been gone for over 30 years now. I miss him. As my Mother tells me often, “Your Dad would have been so proud of you.”

Pricing:

• It costs roughly $250 for our RV to show up on site to give our grooming services.

Contact Info:

• Address: Have Shears Will Travel
  3007 Woodland Hills Drive # 229
  Kingwood, TX 77339
• Website: www.haveshearswilltravel.org
• Phone: 713-657-5654
• Email: barbara@haveshearswilltravel.org
• Instagram: Have Shears Will Travel
• Facebook: Have Shears Will Travel