Agency Interns Help 89-Year Old Tottenham Barber Rebuild After Riots

Keep Aaron Cutting from BBH Barn on Vimeo.

When 89 year-old Aaron Biber arrived at his Tottenham barbershop Sunday, August he found the place trashed and his equipment stolen by rioters and looters. Even his kettle was missing. Aaron did not have insurance and

Aaron Biber - Tottenham BarberKeep Aaron Cutting
The three interns, Björn Conradi, Sophie Browness and Omid Fard at Bartle Boggle Hegarty’s London BBHBarns program were touched by Aaron’s story and were looking for a way to help out. They launched the Keep Aaron Cutting website and spread the word about Aaron’s story.

Within a few days £35,000 has been raised, more than enough to sort things out and repair the barbershop. The blog will remain open at the interns at BBHBarns record the progress of repairs, and they work with the local council to distribute the rest of the funds to help businesses and people in the area recover.

Save Siva’s Shop
Of course Aaron Biber’s barbershop is not the only business devastated in the riots. Hackney shopkeeper Siva Kandiah watched as his Convenience Store was ransacked, leaving him with nothing. As of August 13th, Save Siva’s Shop, a website set up by friends had collected £16,564.91 in donations.

Something Nice for Ashraf
Another site, Something Nice For Ashraf had been setup by Jamie Cowen to help with medical bills for the Malyasian student who was in the wrong place at the wrong time. The video has been viewed nearly 5 million times on YouTube. Ashraf posted a thank you video on YouTube on Saturday.

The moral? Sometimes it takes a devastating event like the UK riots, Haiti earthquake or the Japanese Tsunami to make us realize how fortunate we have it and how fragile life can be. And sometimes unfortunately it takes an event like these riots to reveal the underlying issues within our society. I don’t pretend to understand the frustrations of these people nor do I have a solution.

With the 10 year anniversary of 911 coming up in a few weeks, a lot of us will be reflecting on the events of that day and it’s effect on our daily lives. Be kind to each other.