Go Church outreach provides haircuts and hygiene services to those in need
Story and Photos By David Blanchette
You may have recently seen a blue and white recreational vehicle around town with “hygiene and haircuts, you matter” printed on the back.
That RV and the volunteers from Go Church who staff it have a mission to provide free haircuts to unhoused and needy individuals in the community.
“We want to help restore their dignity by giving them a free haircut just to make them feel good about themselves for the day,” said Mandy Hutton of Go Church in Jacksonville. “We had a guy come through to get a haircut and we asked if he wanted his hair washed. And he said , ‘That would be good, I haven’t had my hair washed in a month.’”
Mandy Hutton and her husband John Hutton, the pastor of Go Church, came up with the idea to offer free haircuts to those in need since that service didn’t exist among the other local organizations that help the unhoused. The couple began searching for a used RV that could be converted for that purpose and soon found such a vehicle in Indiana that had already been set up as a mobile barber and beauty salon with two chairs and a sink.
Go Church has already done several outreach events with the RV since its purchase this summer. Those in need are invited to come to the church after Sunday 10 a.m. services, where they are served a hot meal, given personal hygiene items and can enter the RV to get a haircut. A church member and a local barber, both licensed stylists, donate their services for the RV operation, and additional people in the community have expressed interest in helping out.
“We just want everybody to know that they have a place in this world, that they are seen and they are loved,” Mandy Hutton said. “It helps people to have a better day and feel good about themselves.”
Go Church encourages other organizations to borrow the RV and offer the free haircuts to the clients they serve.
Those interested can call the church at 217-243-1355, visit gochurchjax.com, or find the church on Facebook or Instagram.
Eventually the church would like to acquire another RV with which free showers could be offered.
“We’ve adopted the motto that we exist to assist,” John Hutton said. “It fits in with our overall vision of helping marginalized people by offering services that no one else provides.”
Go Church currently goes once a month to a local laundromat and pays for people to do their own laundry. They have a widow’s fund to assist needy adults following the death of a loved one or those who have experienced loss through a fire or other disaster. That fund was recently used to help a church in Romania to feed and clothe widows and orphans.
But the biggest, oldest and most well-known charitable outreach program is the Go Church’s thrift shop operation, Matthew 25, which is part of the church building at 767 S. West St. in Jacksonville. People can donate items in good condition to the shop, which are then resold; then, once a month, the church donates the net profits to other service organizations in the community.
Matthew 25 issues $25 vouchers to local organizations so their clients can purchase their own clothing in the shop, and the store also routinely holds sales where people can fill a shopping cart with all of the clothes they may need for just $10.
“Our church has about 65 members but we have more resources than we need,” Hutton said. “We actually feel as good as the people we are helping when we do these things. We just love on people and find ways to give them what they can use.”
“As humans we are made to want to help people and that gives us fulfillment in a way that nothing else does,” he added. “We are a small congregation but we have so many people that have a huge heart to serve.”
The Huttons encourage other local organizations to join them in finding out-of-the-box ways to meet the needs of those who are less fortunate.
“There’s a lot of buzz about developing the town center as a place where young professionals can come, and we are 100 percent for that,” John Hutton said. “But let’s lift everybody else up as we go along. We would love to see Jacksonville be a model example for other communities to see.”
Meanwhile, Mandy Hutton said the blue and white RV making the rounds in Jacksonville is a reminder that the members of Go Church are constantly on the lookout for new ways to serve.
“There are endless opportunities to meet the needs in our community,” Mandy Hutton said. “If we see another need, we are going to make our best effort to fill that gap.”
