Day of the Dead – Dia de los Muertos

Agape Salon & Spa is committed to giving back to the community we live in. A vital aspect of our giving back to the community is our team. Our team is very one minded when it comes to serving our neighbors in need. Each and every team member celebrates every opportunity to give back. We meet early in the year and discuss what is in our hearts regarding volunteer work and makes suggestions for events we can volunteer our time.

We allow each team member to express the importance of an event to them personally, and without fail the rest of the team will be on board and happily supports that team member’s idea or event. For the third year in a row Agape Salon & Spa, as a whole, proudly volunteered time for The Well in the Desert at Welwood Murray Cemetery/ Desert Memorial Park–Dia de Los Muertos Event held on October 28. The event was introduced to one of our stylists, Ashley Ramirez, by a guest in our salon, Anna Gann.
Ashley immediately volunteered to provide free haircuts and once mentioning the event to the team, everyone quickly jumped on board. For 6 hours the team did haircuts and face painting; the event was only 4 hours long, but we could not turn away those who were so excited to receive a high end hair style and professional face painting, done with top quality theater makeup. That was only the beginning.

The second year the event was to a Saturday. Right away we decided to close the salon and focus our energy on this wonderful event. Our team once again provided free haircuts and face painting, we also added a new service; Hair Braiding with ribbons and flowers. The demand at our booth was overwhelming. Overwhelming in a good way. The heartfelt gratitude made the long hot hours MORE than worth the effort.

This past October 28th marked our third year volunteering our time at the community event. This year we decided we would listen to the demand of the crowds and provide more face painting and braiding. We always arrive a few hours before the event starts to set up our booth and get organized. Some attendees came early also! Looking for our booth and telling us how happy they are we are at the event again, some even offering to help up set up! A few attendees actually plan their Halloween or Day of the Dead celebrations after the event so we can do their make up for them! The excitement from the crowd is always infectious as we work. There is plenty of laughter and joy on each face as we do their make up or braid their hair.

After the event and we have cleaned and packed away our booth, we all share stories of the lovely people we all just met. The day is long and hot, this year it was 105 degrees, we cannot remember if we ate or had any water, but we remember the faces of the people whose lives we were able to cross paths with, even if only for a few moments. We all know we are changed eternally because of those faces; the appreciation, the hugs, the thank yous make the long hot day more than worth the effort.