Randy Miller is homeless in Seattle, but he has found – at least for now – a reason to hold on to hope and at the same time bless others.
“I was working. I’m not an addict or an alcoholic, I’m homeless for different reasons [family issues], and I’m from the South, so I’ve always had a pretty good work ethic…and nothing was happening [to help my situation]…I’m a believer in the Lord Jesus, and so I started praying.”
Randy admits, “my prayer was complaining. I was complaining to God, trying to figure out why the system wasn’t working for me…on and on and on…and God said to me, ‘Well, Randy, if you want a blessing, you have to be a blessing to other people’ and that was probably the one thing I wasn’t doing.” As a result of that word, Randy launched his personal project “betheblessing206,” 206 being the area code for Seattle.
These days, Randy is employed, stays in a shelter at night, and in whatever free time he has he’s being a blessing – offering free haircuts to people on the street, most of whom are homeless and often hopeless. Randy is in a position to help with a haircut, some encouragement, and sometimes some guidance to get the person connected with those who may be able to help.
Randy is resourceful
Talking with us from one of his ‘shop’ locations under Interstate-5, Randy guesstimates that he gives about 1,800 free haircuts on the Seattle streets each year.
At first, he didn’t have much barbering gear to work with. He used scissors he found and sanitized. To keep cut hair from covering clients, “I would use trash bags as a cape.” Randy cut a head hole and arm holes in the bag. “I was using a cup with alcohol to clean the clippers – now I’ve got, through community donations, an actual barber can of spray that literally disinfects.” When he launched his mission, “I was using a milk crate when I was outside, or a rock” to sit on. But he had to be near an electrical outlet. That has improved. Today he has a small portable generator to power his razor clippers.
“One of the blessings is, I can actually see people relax as I’m cutting their hair.” Randy says getting a haircut can put people at ease. Homeless people “are very reserved because of the things that they’ve gone through,” but once they take a breath and accept the free haircut, they share concerns, thoughts, and fears.
Plans for the future
Randy is currently working on a social media project to help people understand the complicated issue of homelessness. Think: ‘Homeless journalist/advocate.’ He details that in our complete interview podcast below. Also, Randy explains how his first free haircut was offered – it involved some change-of-heart on his part. He also shares one particular encounter where he was able to connect a person with some people who could help her, and how excited she was that someone actually cared about her. As Randy puts it, “The blessing is beyond the haircut.”
