Ginger’s Beauty Salon Wraps Up Annual Haircut and Backpack Drive

SIERRA VISTA, Ariz. (SVL) — On Wednesday evening, Genell Joseph and a team of beauticians wrapped up the 6th Annual Back-to-School Haircuts and Backpack Drive at Walter J. Meyer Elementary School in Tombstone, marking another successful year of giving back to students and families in Cochise County.

The annual drive, started by Genell through her business, Ginger’s Beauty Salon and Trichology Clinic, has become a staple event, serving thousands of students since it began. This year alone, more than 400 backpacks filled with school supplies were distributed, and hundreds of haircuts were given to students preparing for the new school year.

Genell and her husband, Keith, moved to Sierra Vista from the Baton Rouge, Louisiana area in 2017, shortly after several family visits to the area. Within a month of arriving, she opened Ginger’s Beauty Salon and Trichology Clinic at Vista Business Park Plaza on Fry Boulevard. A licensed cosmetologist and former instructor at John Jay Beauty College in New Orleans, she immediately began looking for ways to serve her new community.

She searched for back-to-school haircut events in Sierra Vista, something she had been actively involved in for years in Louisiana. Finding few local options, she hosted her own informal event at her salon in 2018, drawing over 200 children. The unexpected turnout showed her just how great the need was, and it inspired her to grow the event.

In 2019, Joseph added a backpack drive and continued to host it at her salon. After a pause due to COVID-19 in 2020, the event returned for two more years at the salon before expanding further. In 2023, she partnered with Captains Ty and Heather Baze at The Salvation Army, hosting a combined haircut and backpack drive at their facility, a partnership that remains to this day and has helped increase the event's reach and impact.

The event now includes the participation of other local salons and barbers, such as Juan’s Barbershop, Bell Bottom Beauty, and CCXXIII, bringing together a community of stylists dedicated to supporting students. It has also grown geographically, with additional events held in Huachuca City and Tombstone.

Executing the event is a labor-intensive process. All of the necessary equipment, sinks, chairs, clippers, flat irons, hairdryers, spray bottles, and more, is packed into trucks, transported to each location, set up, broken down, and returned to storage. Supplies are collected and stockpiled year-round in preparation for the event, with the goal of helping students feel confident and ready for the first day of school.

Despite the enormous amount of work involved, Joseph says the event is a passion project she looks forward to every year. “I love doing this,” she said, expressing her appreciation for the many supporters who help make it possible.

That support includes her daughter, Dikeyta Bowser, who flies in from Colorado annually to assist with the event and donates supplies to help her mother’s cause. The community-wide effort has not gone unnoticed. Earlier this year, Joseph was presented with a Certificate of Appreciation by Cochise County Superintendent of Schools Dr. Jacqueline Clay in recognition of her service to local students.

This year’s drive also coincides with a major milestone for Joseph, marking the 25th anniversary since she first founded Ginger’s Beauty Salon in Louisiana. Although the salon now calls Sierra Vista home, it continues to reflect the same mission by providing professional service with a heart for others.

The salon continues to serve the community from its location at 999 E. Fry Blvd., Suite 108.