By Gregory Korte
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Jaime Johns, Melissa Ketring and Holly Rupert (left to right) give haircuts and massages to women from the Sojourner Women's Recovery Center, in the Project Daymaker Winnebago in Hamilton Thursday. (Michael Snyder photos) | ZOOM |

HAMILTON - Stories of charity on Thanksgiving Day often include bounteous feasts for the homeless and the hungry. This is not one of those stories.

The only dressing inside Project Daymaker's 34-foot Winnebago was hairdressing. Lipstick, not drumsticks, touched the mouths of the 14 young women being served. And they gave thanks not for nature's bounty, but for its beauty.

The idea: to lift the spirits and self-esteem of poor, homeless and disadvantaged people by giving them something as simple as a haircut.

Donna Hostetter of Cincinnati has makeup applied by Aveda's Christi Brown, one of four volunteer stylists helping brighten Thanksgiving for other people. | ZOOM |

Project Daymaker is the brainchild of Frederic Holzberger, a Fairfield distributor of hair care products, and Sister Bonnie Steinlage of the Franciscan Sisters of the Poor. Sister Bonnie started more than a decade ago by giving haircuts to homeless women in a local funeral home, helping them to feel better about themselves and improving their prospects for a job. Mr. Holzberger learned of her program and bought a $50,000 Winnebago to take the idea from town to town in Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana and Michigan.

"It makes a huge difference. When you cut someone's hair, people will tell you things they won't tell anyone else," said Linda Berger, a volunteer stylist who counsels people about drugs, alcohol, abuse and other issues. "I can really connect with them. And once I can connect with them, I can help them."

For three hours Thursday morning, Ms. Berger and three other stylists made over 14 young women at Sojourner's Women's Recovery Services, a drug and alcohol treatment facility.

"I see it all the time. A lot of them come in here with their heads straight down, and they won't look at you," said Gary Whitney, the project's coordinator and driver of the Winnebago. "And when they leave, they're smiling from ear to ear."

E-mail gkorte@enquirer.com