Hope & Haircuts will be held for the second time at Stephanie Jane Hair Co. in Ogden from 2-6 p.m. Friday.

Whitney Stybe, program director for Action Recovery Group, told the Standard-Examiner that they first did a Hope & Haircuts event in the spring and it was an even bigger success than expected.

“We did this event back in April, and it was a lot bigger than we had anticipated, and so we are prepared this time to have it be even bigger,” she said. “What we do is we go around to places like Weber Human Services, AP&P, all the inpatient treatment centers in the area, and we advertise for them to come get haircuts. We do a free community closet, so we’ve been gathering clothes for the past eight months — we have women’s, men’s, children’s (clothes), children’s toys. We have house items, and it’s all free. We provide bags, and people can just fill up bags and take whatever they want. And then we also have a free food truck that will be providing food for anybody who comes.”

She said they also will offer more than 200 hygiene kits and 100 winter kits during the event. Representatives of other community resources such as treatment centers will be on site as well to help direct those who may need access to resources.

“We just really want to give back to the community,” she said. “Our motto is, ‘Fresh cuts, fresh starts, stronger community.’ We are just really trying to get these people that have been going through a horrible time in their life and get them feeling good about themselves and have them get some presents for their kids for Christmas and get some warm clothes for winter.”

Stybe said her own personal experiences have helped drive the event.

“I’m in recovery myself, and I was at a low place in my life, and something like this would have been really useful,” she said. “I run a treatment center currently, and I see a need for it in our community. There’s just not enough help for people that need this kind of stuff, and with it getting cold soon, I want to make sure that people know about this so that they can get some warm clothes and be comfortable for winter and not have to stress.”