Good Sorts: Invercargill's vulnerable get kisses and cuddles with free haircuts

Twice a year Melissa Aitken opens the doors of an Invercargill school hall and offers everything inside for free to those who need it.

Inspired by a YouTube video of a man giving haircuts to homeless in New York, she thought it couldn’t be too hard to do something similar at home.

"We don’t think here in Invercargill that we have it [poverty] but we really do, we are just not opening our eyes enough to see it," she told 1 NEWS’ Hadyn Jones.

In three years, she’s helped thousands get a haircut, a massage, food, clothes and a health check.

"My events just put a band aid on the situation for a day, but it’s a humbling day," she says.