Sport Clips Raises Funds for Veterans With Haircuts and Fun Run in Santee

The Santee Sport Clips will join the more than 1,100 locations across the country in a single mission - to raise $575,000 for the company’s annual “Help A Hero” fundraising campaign, benefiting the Veterans of Foreign Wars. This year's fundraiser features a new fun run/walk at Santee's Town Center Park.

Since 2007, the Help A Hero program has supported the VFW’s Operation Uplink™ “Free Call Days”, making more than 2 million calls home possible for deployed and hospitalized U.S. service members. In its seventh year, the program will expand its focus to offer scholarships to veterans through the VFW’s Sport Clips Help A Hero Scholarship Program. Each scholarship will provide up to $5,000 of assistance to veterans who are pursuing an education at post-secondary institutions, including trade schools.

Donations to Help A Hero will be collected in-store through November 11, Veterans Day. In addition, Sport Clips will hold “The Biggest Haircut Day of the Year” on Veterans Day, when each store will donate a dollar from every haircut service to the VFW-administered scholarship program.

San Diego County Stores will also raise funds through a Fun Run / Walk on Sunday, November 10, at 9 a.m. at the Santee Town Center Community Park. The next day, November 11, all Sport Clips in San Diego and Orange Counties will offer complimentary haircuts to any active duty military personnel.

Local Franchisee Terry Klinker’s Sport Clips in Santee raised $7,652 for the program last year and his team hopes to double that number this year. The newest store owner in La Mesa, Chris Formo, hopes to give Terry’s team a run for their money, being from a military family himself.

“As a community of small business owners, we are proud that we can join this national effort to help our nation’s heroes through these scholarships,” says Ron Chamberlain, Sport Clips Area Developer for San Diego. “Sport Clips and our clients across the country have donated almost $2 million over the past six years to support our service members during deployment, so I’m glad we can continue to support them as they return home and transition into civilian careers.”

Sport Clips Haircuts and the two Sportsplex USA centers in Santee and Poway are also teaming up to host the 2013 "Help A Hero Softball Tournament" and silent auction to raise even more funds.

“As U.S. service members return from deployments by the thousands, it’s encouraging to see active support coming from companies like Sport Clips,” said VFW Commander-in-Chief Bill Thien. “This scholarship program is an important addition to the troop-support offerings the VFW provides, and through it, we look forward to helping many service members succeed in the next chapter of their lives.”

Sport Clips is the official haircutter of the VFW, and its Help A Hero campaign is just one of the many ways it supports active-duty military and veterans. To find out more, visit your local Sport Clips or SportClips.com. 

A Sports Clips press release contributed to this post.

Also see:  "Help A Hero 3rd Annual Softball Tournament & Silent Auction at Sportsplex