SAN ANTONIO – A retired U.S. Marine, whose mobile barbershop was stolen earlier this year, is getting a second chance to continue serving the community thanks to a little help from fellow barbers and a military nonprofit.
Keith Harris, who previously served nearly two decades in the Marine Corps, offers free haircuts to veterans, people experiencing homelessness, and children in single-parent households.
He calls it his way of giving back.
“When you give someone a haircut, it changes their whole day,” Harris said. “It can take like 10 years off people, you know? Especially if you cut real good.”
KSAT 12 first spoke to Harris in August after his custom trailer, outfitted as a mobile barbershop, was stolen from a storage facility.
Harris said he had poured thousands of dollars and countless hours into the project.
“My stomach just dropped,” he saidin August. “I was like, there’s no way someone took this mobile barbershop out of this facility with all the cameras that are here.”
The story quickly caught the attention of viewers, including Mike Cameron, CEO of Devils River Whiskey.
Cameron regularly partners with the nonprofit Wish for Our Heroes, which supports military veterans in need.
After learning about Harris’s story, they invited him to a recent fundraising gala, with a surprise in store.
“I had no clue about what was going on,” Harris recalled.
At the event, Harris was presented with a $5,000 check to help rebuild his mobile barbershop operation.
“That’s no chump change. It’s definitely a blessing,” he said. “When I saw it I had to look at the number again and make sure it was the right amount.”
In addition to the donation, local barbers have stepped in to support Harris by letting him borrow their own mobile setups to continue providing free services.
“After all this stuff happened, I just met good people, new people that I would never even have met if this didn’t happen,” Harris said. “So I’m trying to take it as a blessing.”
Though he’s still working to save for a new trailer, Harris plans to keep his mission going. He’ll be offering free haircuts at New Baptist Church on Oct. 18, thanks to a local barber named Heavyn who is loaning him her mobile shop for the day.