A Barrie salon owner is doing her part to help out a local food bank.
Shirley Moller, owner of Hair by the Bay, is hosting a cut-athon on Friday to benefit the Grocery Assistance Program (GAP). “One day, a lady came in who was down and out, had no job and I said, ‘I think there’s a food bank,’ and she said there is, but she didn’t have a car,” Moller said. “I then heard Elizabeth Fry had a food bank and gave them a call to see what I could do.” The group is one of several that helps operate GAP, which was founded in 2005, and served about 7,000 people in the past year. Unfortunately, a lack of supplies forced GAP to turn away an additional 3,000 people. All proceeds from the cut-athon will go towards the GAP, which has already served 600 people in January alone. Needed donations include canned tuna, ham or chicken, canned vegetables, canned pasta and stews, pasta, pasta sauce, powdered milk, pork and beans, pancake mix and syrup. Serving primarily the downtown area, GAP is important to residents there, Moller said. “It’s important to me to help the community,” Moller said, whose shop is downtown. “I want this to be an annual event.”
Hair by the Bay is located at 27 Maple St. The cut-a-thon will run all day on Friday.