A barber giving free haircuts to homeless people has been given a major boost with the donation of a converted RV, allowing his kindness-on-wheels project to travel further along Australia’s east coast. Qendrim Rasiti, a 29-year-old UK-born barber based in Brisbane, runs the community initiative Rasiti Roots, and his viral videos have already reached millions of viewers.
According to the announcement published on 4 November 2026, Rasiti provides free haircuts, clothing and meals to people experiencing homelessness and hardship, operating under the motto “Where every cut tells a story”. A converted Toyota HiAce RV, donated by Jay King, Managing Director of Aus J Hot Water Solutions, will now let him travel further to reach more people in need.
Spotted on television, then gone viral
King said he was amazed when he saw Rasiti on television programme A Current Affair, walking the streets of Brisbane and respectfully approaching people who looked like they might be doing it tough, offering them a haircut and a chance to feel good about themselves. Since then, Rasiti’s videos on the Rasiti Roots TikTok and Instagram accounts have reached millions of viewers.
Rasiti has also been featured nationally on programmes including A Current Affair and 7NEWS, and funds his street operations through public support and a GoFundMe campaign. The work is deliberately low-key and respectful: an approach, an offer, a conversation, a haircut — and, for the person in the chair, a rare moment of being treated as a customer rather than a problem.
Reunions that go beyond a haircut
The most remarkable claim in the announcement is that Rasiti’s viral videos have led to multiple families successfully reuniting with long-lost loved ones who had been living rough. A face seen in a haircut video, recognised by a relative, has more than once ended years of silence.
That is the deeper point of the project. A haircut is not a solution to homelessness, and Rasiti does not pretend otherwise. But dignity is a real thing, and so is visibility. With the new RV, Rasiti Roots can now carry that small, practical kindness further up the coast — one cut, one conversation, one reunion at a time.
