Life is a journey. Often things don’t go exactly as planned, but if you take it day by day, with a little party in between, you see how a father from the Bronx lives with his family in the Philadelphia Ronald McDonald House.
Sitting down for a haircut is a blessing for Mateo Valentin.
“How long have you been in the house?” Richard Cornish asked Valentin.
“We’ve been living here for five or six months now,” Valentin said.
This father’s journey began many months ago at the Philadelphia Ronald McDonald House, but it has been a long road.
“My son just turned 19 months,” Valentin said, “and we have been to three hospitals in one year.”
Thanks to Mateo Valentin
Baby Jayven lives at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
“I usually get his hair all right. We take pictures in the morning which side is good for him so we can show it to family and friends,” said Valentin, as he showed the CBS News Philadelphia crew a video of his son showed.
Both Mom and Dad live in the Philadelphia House. Valentin works nearby at night while his wife travels to New York for work. Any spare time is spent with their beautiful son.
“Every day I throw a party for him,” Valentin said with a smile. “I throw him a party every day – just because.”
Valentin considers the house and haircuts to be blessings on this journey. For example, the money he saves from the buzz of the razor covers the transportation costs for his wife.
“Everything about this place is just all positive,” Valentin said of the Ronald McDonald House.
Meeting them, understanding them and listening to them, that is what Richard Cornish has to do here.
“Every person is on a journey at some point in their life,” Cornish said. “We just don’t know where they are on that journey.”
He founded “Restore Salon Services” in 2020 and provided haircuts for families in need, including at the Ronald McDonald House.
Cornish or another volunteer stylist comes about every two weeks. The list to register is filling up quickly.
“You see a journey through someone else’s eyes and the gratitude they have,” Cornish said. “Giving back is free. It’s kind. We need kindness in this world.”
Kindness that Valentin – and a long list of others coming to the hairdresser today – are extremely grateful for on this journey.
“I never understood that word. But now I do. It’s dedication,” Valentin said. ‘You have to give everything to make that little boy laugh. That’s why I always throw him a party.’
Nikki DeMentri
