Every Monday, a Barber Set Up on the Sidewalk and Cut Hair for Free. One Homeless Man Kept Showing Up to Help Him Sweep

On Thanksgiving Day in 2017, a barber named Taza Gillespie had an idea. Why not give free haircuts to people who had nowhere to live?

Everyone calls him T. That one day turned into a habit. Every Monday morning he set up on the sidewalk in downtown Denver, near the state Capitol, and cut hair for whoever showed up. Some weeks he had around 30 customers.

“If I’m only in the shelter then I’m only doing the people in the shelter,” he said. “But what about the people that live out on the street?”

One of his first regulars was a man who goes by Nick.

Nick’s life had fallen apart fast. In 2016 his mother died and he was in a car crash. He became dependent on pain pills and lost his job. Soon he was sleeping in shelters and on the street.

“When I met T and found that I could come to him every week, it was one of the few times that I actually felt normal,” Nick said.

Every Monday, Nick was the first one there. He helped T set up, then stayed to sweep and clean. Now and then T slipped him a few dollars for the help, because he knew Nick needed it.

Things got worse before they got better. Nick needed emergency surgery and was so sick he couldn’t walk to the paramedics. T stayed with him through it.

“He was still trying to do better for himself,” T said. “He wasn’t just giving up.”

In February 2022, after about six years on and off the streets, Nick moved into an apartment. A few months later he got a job at Goodwill. He says meeting T is a big part of why.

Then, in 2022, Nick unexpectedly ran into T again. T was now working at a barber shop in Aurora, just a few miles from Nick’s new apartment.

Now the two friends meet every couple of weeks. T still cuts Nick’s hair, and he still won’t take a cent for it.

“I never would have dreamed after where I was when I met T, that I would be where I am now,” Nick said.

And now Nick wants to give back too. He is working on a plan to help people in the same spot he was once in.

Has a small act of kindness ever changed your life? Tell us in the comments.