Dominic Basilio, what a cool bean! You may have heard of this local stylist who took to volunteering during lockdown last year… Dominic spent twelve weeks of lockdown helping The Salvation Army organise and distribute important food parcels via their food bank. While lots of us were re-watching episodes of Breaking Bad and exhausting our pyjama selection, Dominic was lending a hand wherever he could. It turns out that his stint at the Salvation Army was really just the beginning.
Since then, this absolute legend of a guy has been collecting gifts for the kids of Brighter Futures (almost a thousand of them!), running a huge Easter egg drive and looking to help Monte a Labbé with their bottle drive to help raise funds for the school. They say there’s no rest for the wicked, well, it seems there’s even less rest for the good!
Battling with tidal waves of toys (storage was a bit of a struggle for poor Dominic and he ended up with masses of gifts stacked up around his house!), the main worry he came across during his year of giving, was the amount of people in need.
“I would say the only struggle I’ve faced in the past year was coming to the realisation of actually how many people on the island are struggling and actually seeing it for myself. It definitely made me reevaluate things and for someone who doesn’t normally cry, I had a few embarrassing moments but this will only drive me to carry on with what I’m trying to do.”
Dominic has now opened his own salon, Studio Phoenix – an aptly named business… Our dear Dominic is all about lifting people up, rising from the ashes and making something good from something not so good. Dominic also feels that his new venture will enable him to do even more, and he’ll continue to work with The Salvation Army as well as joining the Causeway Charity Committee.
Dominic wanted to shout out a few people who helped him smash his gifting goals and so here we go… Big ups to, “Alice and Richard Nunn from the Salvation Army who are just amazing people. Elodie Redoules from Bailiwick express who wrote so many lovely articles about my drives that massively increased donations. Orla Nugent from Causeway who is the biggest ray of sunshine with the biggest heart. Leaders in Well-being, TMF and To all my friends, family and clients who have made all of this happen with their kind donations and got to meet some amazing people who I may have never met doing some amazing things, Cheyenne O Connor, Claire O Connell, Brighter Futures and the awesome team at Jersey Childcare Trust!”
Our lockdown hero didn’t mentioned his awards, he’s modest as well as cute and caring… but Dominic was commended with a number of awards for his hard work within the community. Adding to his award shelf, he can now be the proud owner of his own Gallery pages, commemorating the fact that he is a truly COOL BEAN.
