Because of her grandmother and the impression her mother’s time at Thunder Bay’s Tamarack House made on her, Stacy Kreger of The Hair & Body Care Shoppe has donated tens of thousands of dollars in proceeds from numerous haircuts spanning decades of her tenure at the Emo hair business.
Every year, the event receives strong support from the district and has Emo Chamber of Commerce dollar draws, sales and a sense of community. This year will be no different.
“We started cuts for cancer after my grandma had passed away with cancer,” said Kreger.
“After my mom had cancer, she stayed at the Tamarack House, we decided to donate there. When you look through their photo albums and the people, you see there is a ton of people from around here that use the facility.”
Ever since, Kreger and The Hair & Body Care Shoppe have donated to the Tamarack House because of the lasting impression of the time her mother spent there.
“It was a wonderful place. They were very good,” said Kreger.
“We will be doing regular haircuts all day on Saturday, [April 26], from eight in the morning till 2:30 p.m., and the money from the haircut will be going to the Tamarack House in Thunder Bay.
“People can come and just leave money if they like.”
Some years have been better than others in terms of community support, but every year The Hair & Body Care Shoppe donates thousands of dollars to people and organizations dealing with cancer.
“We raise as high as $10,000 some years, or as low as, I don’t know, anywhere between $2,000 to $10,000,” said Kreger.
“It just depends on if we have anybody that’s shaving heads or not. We’ve done it for personal people, for private people before, when we first started, before we went to the Tamarack House. So, we’ve probably done over $100,000 or are getting close to it. Not all of that went to the Tamarack House. Some went to some private people who were struggling.”
While some are struggling to make ends meet while dealing with their cancer journey, Kreger never questioned the support she gets from the community.
“We always have great support from the community,” said Kreger.
“Always. It’s not just Emo. We have Morson and Rainy River and Nestor [Falls] and Fort Frances and beyond. People come from all over the district to get a haircut. We have good support everywhere. We do this because it’s important.”
The Hair & Body Care Shoppe will also have sales and Emo Chamber of Commerce Dollar draws on Saturday for Spring Fever days.
