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  • So should I call you Robert or Mr. Dunham?

  • Well, it's your show.

  • Whatever works for you.

  • Oh, it's my show now.

  • Thank you, Robert.

  • We'll tell Ellen quickly.

  • [LAUGHTER]

  • Now, I saw a photo of you cutting a kid's hair in class,

  • right?

  • Mm-hmm.

  • And this went viral.

  • [EXHALES] Yeah.

  • Yeah.

  • So how did this happen?

  • How did this come about?

  • So in Richmond, we have this thing.

  • It's called the Moving On Ceremony.

  • And some people call it a graduation ceremony-- whatever.

  • But we have a Moving On Ceremony,

  • and we do it every year for fifth grade.

  • And so as we were preparing, I just saw that some of my kids--

  • some of my male students were not ready.

  • And I said to them, hey, are you guys

  • going to be good for tomorrow?

  • And they was like, oh, Mr. Dunham, we got it.

  • I said, no, you guys look jacked up.

  • So I'm just saying--

  • [LAUGHTER]

  • Like, are you sure?

  • Right, right.

  • They said, no, we got it.

  • I said, OK, whatever.

  • So I went home and really didn't think about it.

  • And I woke up the next morning and I just

  • had this really funny feeling.

  • And so I just started throwing my clippers in the bag.

  • And my wife, she said, where you going with those clippers?

  • I said, babes, somebody's going to come in here jacked up.

  • So we've got to--

  • I'm telling you right-- somebody's

  • going to come here jacked up.

  • You've got to tighten things up.

  • Yeah, tighten-- yeah, I've got to fix that.

  • Yeah, yeah, yeah.

  • And so I get to work and I'm getting

  • everything ready for the show.

  • And next thing you know, one of my students walks in.

  • And just like I said, jacked up.

  • Hair akimbo.

  • And I said, I knew it.

  • I knew you were going to come here.

  • I said, come on, man.

  • Let's just get this right.

  • Yeah.

  • And so the next thing you know, my colleagues started

  • coming in the room and saying, Mr. Dunham,

  • can you take one more?

  • I was like, this is not the barbershop.

  • Like, what's wrong with you guys?

  • And it's like, oh, we've got another one, and we've got--

  • and the next thing you know, I'm just sitting--

  • It's like a Krispy Kreme line out the door now.

  • I'm like, what is going on, man?

  • And I'm just sitting there and I'm just lining everybody up,

  • and doing something that--

  • How many haircuts did you end up giving?

  • I think I did about seven that day.

  • No kidding.

  • Yeah.

  • And when it went viral, what did that feel like?

  • Was that--

  • I don't know.

  • I guess I freaked out a little bit.

  • [LAUGHS]

  • Sure, sure.

  • Because I really didn't expect any of that to happen.

  • And so it's just been surreal, man,

  • just to see that going viral like that.

  • Well, that makes me so happy that you

  • were celebrated for that, because it's

  • a very beautiful gesture.

  • Now, you said that your classroom is sometimes

  • like a sanctuary or a getaway for these students.

  • Yes, definitely.

  • And what do you mean by that?

  • So I have students that just come from some of the worst

  • type of situations.

  • And it's not their fault, but it's just

  • things that just happen.

  • And so what I always wanted to make sure

  • that my classroom was, it was just a place

  • that they can come to my classroom

  • and forget about everything that's going on.

  • You just come there, and you can literally

  • forget about all your problems.

  • Yeah.

  • And I just wanted to have that type of place--

  • that type of learning environment.

  • That's beautiful.

  • Now, you mean a lot to your students,

  • but one in particular you had a real big impact.

  • Yeah.

  • Who's that?

  • OK.

  • I hope nobody was one of these kids.

  • But basically, he was just really angry all the time,

  • and I could not figure why.

  • And it was just--

  • nothing I was doing was reaching him, and just every single day.

  • And I just got to a point I didn't know what to do.

  • And I had a conversation with my wife.

  • I said, babes, I really don't know what to do with him.

  • He's mad all the time.

  • Yeah.

  • And she says, baby, he's not mad at you.

  • It's something going on.

  • And she says, once you figure out what's going on

  • and you connect with him on a different level,

  • everything will just stop.

  • This beautiful woman right here?

  • Yes, absolutely.

  • That's my wife.

  • Oh, man.

  • How you doing?

  • [APPLAUSE]

  • Yes.

  • That's my boo.

  • [LAUGHS] I did good, right?

  • You did real good.

  • Yeah.

  • I think we both are out of our pay grade.

  • Yeah.

  • I don't know--

  • Yeah, congratulations.

  • I don't know how I pulled that one off, I'll

  • tell you right now.

  • I don't-- no idea.

  • [LAUGHTER]

  • And so I finally found a way to reach him.

  • And at the end of the year, he writes this letter,

  • he folds it up, and he gives it to me.

  • He says, Mr. Dunham, this is for you.

  • And I didn't read it immediately,

  • because I just thought he was going

  • to write whatever in there.

  • And I got in the car and I opened the letter

  • and I started reading it.

  • And I got choked up, because this

  • was a kid that told me four or five times that he hated me.

  • Yeah.

  • But then he literally gives me a letter saying,

  • Mr. Dunham, you were one of the best teachers I've ever had.

  • And thank you for everything that you've

  • done for me this year.

  • And one of the things he did say-- he says,

  • all the times you said you was going to call my mom,

  • you never did.

  • And I thank you for that.

  • [LAUGHTER]

  • I never did.

  • Well, listen, I'll tell you--

  • [APPLAUSE]

  • A teacher, Mr. Woods, saved my life.

  • I was dyslexic.

  • I couldn't read.

  • I was going to learning disabled classes.

  • And this guy figured out that I was good at math.

  • I just needed one thing to be confident about.

  • And he believed in me, and he had me start

  • teaching the other kids math.

  • And all of a sudden, I was like, oh, I can do this.

  • Wow.

  • That man-- I'm not sitting here without that man.

  • You're that man to this guy.

  • Thank you.

  • So I'm so happy for you.

  • Thank you so much.

  • Now, listen.

  • [APPLAUSE]

  • We're going to come back a little later in the show,

  • and I want to hear about what your dream is

  • for your community.

  • And hopefully, we can help with that.

  • Absolutely.

  • So we'll be right back.

  • Now, you got something going in your community.

  • You wanted to help the kids.

  • So what did you start?

  • What did you do?

  • So I had gotten so many letters and emails

  • from across the country about just how my story had just

  • impacted them so much.

  • It was a random act of kindness.

  • And I was sitting down one day.

  • I said, how do I keep this going?

  • Because there's going to be another group of kids who's

  • going to need the same thing, and I

  • want to make sure that I'm able to do something to help them.

  • And so I decided to start a nonprofit organization called

  • "Be the Change RVA."

  • And what we decided to do-- myself and my wife and my older

  • brother--

  • we started this organization where literally, we just

  • started partnering with all of the local barbershops

  • in the community and having them donate their time,

  • providing free haircuts.

  • Yeah.

  • And that's what we started doing.

  • [APPLAUSE]

  • And we just had an event recently,

  • where I partnered with one of the barbershops

  • and we gave away over 70 backpacks,

  • getting the kids ready for school.

  • And we did about 40 haircuts that day.

  • Yeah.

  • You're three times better of a person than me.

  • It's so impressive.

  • Now, listen, you--

  • Only three?

  • [LAUGHTER]

  • It may be 23.

  • Yeah.

  • Now, you've given back to your community,

  • and we would like to give back to you.

  • Now, your car broke, right?

  • [SIGHS]

  • And you recently came into possession of a Honda Odyssey

  • van.

  • Yeah.

  • You put $1,500 down.

  • I went through your finances.

  • You still--

  • [LAUGHTER]

  • You still owe $8,500 on this thing.

  • Yeah, that's--

  • OK?

  • That's absolutely true.

  • Well, Ellen's friends at Shutterfly

  • would love to help you.

  • They love to help people.

  • So what we'd like to do is give you a check for $10,000

  • to pay off that Honda Odyssey.

  • [CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]

  • Let's see.

  • Boom, boom, boom.

  • Mr. Dunham, it's not over.

  • You've gotta save a couple tears for this,

  • because we also heard that you've been saving up

  • for a trip to Disney World.

  • Oh.

  • Shutterfly is going to make that happen as well.

  • We're going to give you another $10,000 for that trip.

  • Let's bring out the check.

  • [CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]

  • Oh, man.

  • Oh, man.

  • You deserve this.

  • You so deserve this.

  • Oh, man.

So should I call you Robert or Mr. Dunham?

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