Last summer, Steller pulled off the freeway on her way to work in Minneapolis. She stopped at a traffic light, where a man was sitting with a sign asking for help. She ____1____ down her window.
＂Hey!“she shouted.”I’m driving around giving ____2____ haircuts. If I go and grab my ____3____, do you want one right now?“
The man looked to be in his 60s. He was heavyset, and ____4____ a few teeth. He laughed, and then paused,”____5____, I was really hoping to get a haircut.“
”I’ll be right back,“Steller said.
She drove off, went to the salon she owns, and ____6____ a red chair into her car.
Quickly she ____7____ back. Then she cut the man’s curly graying hair. The man told her about growing up in Mississippi, about moving to Minnesota to be closer to his adult children, and how he still talks to his mom every day.
After Steller was done, the man looked in a mirror and ____8____,”I look good!“he said.”I’ll have to remember to put my artificial teeth in next time.“
To date, Steller has given about 30 such haircuts to people around the city. These clients are all living down and out, so she is clearly aware of the ____9____ of her cleanup job.
In fact, for Steller, it’s more than a haircut. It is not only a gateway to show value and ____10____, but also to get to know people. She wants to ____11____ relationships.
Steller knows that a haircut can ____12____ a life because one changed hers:As a teen, she suffered from a disease called ulcerative colitis, which was so ____13____ that her hair thinned severely. Seeing this, her mother arranged for Steller’s first professional haircut.
Sitting down and having somebody look at her made Steller feel that she was a ____14____ and not just an illness, which helped her feel ____15____ and less alone.
After that, Steller decided to have her own salon so she could help the people ____16____ the feeling she’d had that day. Not long after finishing hairdressing school in 2009, she began what she now calls her Red Chair Project,____17____ out to people on the streets. Steller listens to people’s stories of ____18____, suffering, and struggle to get back on their feet. She believes even if she can’t ____19____ their problems, maybe she can help them feel less alone for a moment. The attention ____20____ works.
And it all began with a belief in simple acts of kindness, such as a free haircut.