San Diego's Sports Clips Set to Help Our Heroes

San Diego County’s 17 Sport Clips men’s hair salons will join more than 1,100 locations across the country in an effort to raise $575,000 for the company’s annual “Help A Hero” fundraising campaign, benefiting the Veterans of Foreign Wars, officials announced Tuesday.

Donations are being taken now in-store through Nov. 11, Veterans Day. On Veterans Day, the salons will also hold “The Biggest Haircut Day of the Year.” Each store will donate a dollar from every haircut service to the VFW-administered scholarship program, organizers said.

“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,” Ron Chamberlain, Sport Clips Area Developer for San Diego through a written statement. “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.”

The Help A Hero program has supported the VFW’s Operation Uplink “Free Call Days,” since 2007. It’s enabled service members to make more than 2 million calls to loved ones.

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, organizers said. They planned to have each scholarship provide up to $5,000 of assistance to veterans who are pursuing an education at post-secondary institutions, including trade schools.

Santee franchisee Terry Klinker’s Sport Clips raised $7,652 for the program last year and his team hopes to double that number this year.

Chris Formo, owner of the newest store in La Mesa, intends to give Klinker’s team a run for their money, being from a military family, organizers said.

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

“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.”