Calgary salon raising money for mental health after falling victim to a smash-and-grab

The owners of Hedkandi Salon on Eight Street SW have boarded up their door following a break-in last week.

The thieves took tools and products that cost around $2,000. With the damage to the front door, Jereme Bokitch believes he’s lost about $3,500.

“They got a fair amount of tools, but it was more of a smash and grab,” he said.

“For us, 2022 looks like a year where we’re really going to thrive, so we’re focusing on either making the bad things great or making the good things better.”

Bokitch says he woke up when the culprits broke in around 4:30 a.m. Wednesday. You feel that they did this out of desperation, so they wanted to turn the bad situation into something positive.

He sought out local muralist and artist Tiffany Cuffley to help him paint the boarded up door.

“My work is geometric, so it’s very shaped,” Cuffley said.

“A bit mid-century modern and I have a plant growing out of it, just to symbolize something new coming out of an unfortunate situation.”

Cuffley’s artwork will be auctioned off and the money raised will be donated to Alpha House.

“I have a lot of friends who are in recovery. Two of my friends passed away this year because of it and I see it more and more and it’s just not going well for them,” Bokitch said.

“Mental health is really scary right now.”

For Cuffley, she doesn’t normally create murals in the winter, but she is excited to have the opportunity to show her work.

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“It will be up temporarily and there will be glass coming back in,” he said.

“But there’s a little change to that, so it’s going to be here for a few weeks.”

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