MINNEAPOLIS — Wilson's Image sits on West Broadway Avenue N. and is a pivotal part of a north Minneapolis neighborhood.
Owner Teto Wilson may spend his days cutting hair, but he's also a 'cut above the rest' when it comes to his love of the community.
"I see the joy, pain, desperation, hope, I see everything, just wanting to be that person to just offer what I can," he said.
During the pandemic, Wilson's shop served as a space to combat vaccine hesitancy.
"We did vaccines here in the barbershop for just about a week shy of a year, and what I found from that is that people were more comfortable coming here rather than clinics and hospitals. They wanted to come to the barbershop and get vaccines in a place they trusted with people who look just like them," he said.
He then decided it was time to help people living there advocate for themselves when it comes to healthcare, bringing resources right outside these doors.
"So we're having our second annual 'Live your Healthy Lyfe' community block party," he said. "People from this community have not always had friendly relationships with healthcare workers, so we realized that after the COVID pandemic," he said. "We came together and decided we needed to be the ones to bring health resources to the community."
Along with more than two dozen community sponsors, Wilson says they'll be conversations, healthcare screenings, vaccinations and mental health resources.
"We have maybe 30 vendors, people selling pastries, shirts, hats, we have food trucks, and we have live entertainment," he said.
But Wilson's passion for community is also helping neighborhood students.
"Two days after on August 14, we're having an awards ceremony in the barbershop. I started Wilson's Image Scholarships in 2018 just as a vehicle to help students in north Minneapolis, to give them a little money for college, and it's grown since then, in the first year, I had $1,000 to split between two students, and this year we're giving out $50,000," he said.
He's hoping to continue expanding both the scholarship fund and the annual block party.
"Hopefully, next year we'll be able to give out $100,000 who knows, the sky is the limit," he said.
For more information about the block party and sponsors, visit the link here.
To donate to the scholarship fund, visit the link here.
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