But that changed Friday for the Ogden School District Custodial Supervisor as he made his way to the barber shop at Ogden-Weber Technical College where his hair was cut and beard trimmed by O-TECH High School student Darien Vasquez.

Blanchard said that his department has long held holiday season food drives, but this year, he wanted to kick things up a notch.

“The Facilities and Operations Department with the Ogden School District, this would be the ninth year where we’ve conducted a Facilities and Operations food drive,” he said. “It’s been quite successful the past eight years so I thought for this ninth year, it would be awesome to blow our donations out of the water and really go big

In late 2025, the goal of 1,500 food items was made a bit more spicy with Blanchard offering to donate his hair.

Rob Nielsen, Standard-Examiner

“I’ve been growing it for 10 years and I thought, ‘Donating food is awesome, but being able to donate hair to Locks of Love would be just as awesome,'” he said. “We put that challenge together, we got the word out and between Facilities and Operations and the support of wonderful employees from the Ogden School District, that number continued to grow week after week. And on the deadline, we were pretty close to meeting the goal.”

Ultimately, nearly 1,600 food items were donated to the TLC Food Pantry at Canyon Road Church in Ogden.

“I’ve kept my end of the bargain and today, the hair’s coming off,” Blanchard said. “It’s really fun to see people come together to support one another, to support and uplift the community. I’m honored to be a part of it.”

He said that when he last cut his hair in 2015, he donated 16 inches of hair to Locks of Love.

Ogden School District Custodial Supervisor Marc Blanchard begins his first haircut in a decade on Friday, Jan. 16, 2026.

A bag of hair once belonging to Ogden School District Custodial Supervisor Marc Blanchard, now destined for Locks of Love, pictured on Friday, Jan. 16, 2026.