About Us

WHO WE ARE

Trim Hunger is  a 501 (c)3 non-profit organization dedicated to raising awareness and donations to address the issue of hunger both locally in the fox cities of Wisconsin and in America. Through its affiliation with the nationwide beauty school franchise The Salon Professional Academy and Elevate salon institute with the help of generous corporate sponsors, Trim Hunger is igniting the passion to help those in need in the hearts of beauty professionals all across the country. In an industry already focused on helping, giving, and transforming lives, Trim Hunger will have the limitless support of beauty schools, salons, spas, and manufacturers to provide nutritious meals for those greatest in need.

HOW WE BEGAN

In 2014, Josif Wittnik of Appleton, WI was introduced to some frightening and saddening statistics regarding the number of people in his own community, including many children, who were going without food each day. Motivated by this daily tragedy in his hometown, Josif set out to do something about it. As the president and  co-owner of  The Salon Professional Academy (TSPA)  he leveraged their reach and the caring hearts of the other owners, staff, and students to sponsor fundraisers through a variety of activities under the name Cut Out Hunger; playing on the hairdresser pun. By the end of 2013, they had raised thousands of dollars to help the local food bank get meals out into the community. Knowing that more needed to be done, both locally and across the United States, Josif brought this issue to the attention of anyone who would listen. This effort reached a turning point in January of 2015 while Josif was attending the biennial Redken Symposium in Las Vegas. Upon sharing his story with fellow TSPA owners of The Salon Professionals, and a variety of executives with Redken and L’Oreal, Josif received an overwhelming response from people wanting to get involved. Since then, the brand evolved to Trim Hunger (in keeping with the salon industry theme) and continues to receive an outpouring of support through The Salon Professional Academy franchise and corporate sponsorship from both within and far outside the beauty industry.