Evan Winston, president of the local fencing empire Hercules is giving back to the community on behalf of his employees during the COVID-19 pandemic—by way of at-home haircuts? What was supposed to be an internal competition to help boost the morale of his employees has now evolved into a public contest. About two weeks ago, in the backyard of Winston’s DC home he recored a video for his employees about a company-wide fundraising haircut contest. “It was just to get my own team aware of civic responsibility, since we’re fortunate to be able to work right now,” says Winston. He had just buzzed his son’s hair over the weekend and says afterwards his “wife wanted to kill him,” since the haircut was, let’s say, clearly not done by a professional. That sparked the conversation about how others are cutting their hair during quarantine, and ultimately led to the The Hercules COVID Haircut Challenge. For each Hercules employee’s at-home haircut, the fencing company will make a donation to that participant’s local food bank.“Everybody needs to eat, most everybody needs a haircut, and we all sure need a good laugh,” says Winston. Also, don’t worry! Winston says it doesn’t have to be just a buzz cut. “Any kind of hair cut will do just fine!”
How it works.
The Hercules COVID Haircut Challenge is raising money for local food banks during the coronavirus crisis with a feel-good (and entertaining!) at-home haircut contest. For 30 days (starting the last week of April) Hercules has asked employees (and friends of Hercules) to take a picture of their at-home haircut, while donning a mask, and post it to their site. For employees of the company, $100 dollars will be donated to their office’s local food bank. For friends who aren’t employees, a $50 dollar donation will be made to their local food bank.
How it’s done so far.
In two weeks, Hercules has raised over $7,000 dollars for local food banks. “We typically donate to a few charities a year […] so we decided to combine those efforts and make one big donation for our local food banks during this time,” says Winston, adding that they are caping the contest at $25,000—the most they’ve given before. “We hope this can be a fun way to help those who need our support right now. We also encourage other companies [who are able to make donations] to put on a contest of their own.”
Check out the video below to learn more about the challenge:
Jacqueline comes to Washingtonian with close to five years of digital content experience and SEO best practices. She previously was a senior editorial associate at WeddingWire, specializing in wedding fashion, and before that, an assistant at Vow Bride. Originally from Norfolk, Virginia, she now lives in Columbia Heights.
