Helping the Helpers

Nicole Morales

Team Rubicon volunteers serve Baltimore homeowners Carol and Kenny who give local homeless people free haircuts and a place to sleep.

As Strike Team Charlie emptied the flood-soaked contents of Baltimore homeowners Carol and Kenny’s basement, they noticed a number of hair salon items, including barber chairs. When a Team Rubicon volunteer inquired about the belongings, Carol responded that she and her husband used their basement to provide haircuts to homeless men, women, and children.

Many of the haircut recipients, she noted, were pursuing job interviews or were students in local schools. Carol and Kenny’s simple act of providing free haircuts helped restore dignity and confidence to those who needed it most.

 

 

As the strike team members silently stood in awe of the Carol and Kenny’s selflessness, the couple shared that they utilized the rest of their home to shelter homeless women and children, including homeless mothers with newborns, who often reside in vacant properties after being released from the hospital. Their entire home was dedicated to serving others.

The volunteers who mucked and gutted Carol and Kenny’s home did not just serve the needs of their family. By “helping the helpers,” Team Rubicon enabled this couple to continue to empower and serve their entire community.

  • Greyshirt Always

    Transforming Time into Impact

    How harnessing the irreplaceable gift of volunteers' time creates lasting impact and builds capacity within Team Rubicon and beyond.

  • Reflection

    Remembering Team Rubicon’s Typhoon Haiyan Response 10 Years Later 

    A Greyshirt reflects on his first international operation, tarping a roof during a 7-year-old’s surgery, and how the disaster relief and humanitarian aid nonprofit has changed over the decade.

  • Reflection

    All the Waterworks

    A Greyshirt reflects on proud moments from his time responding to the Morocco earthquake, and how a water filter and tea with an elder nearly broke his composure.

Read More Stories