LYNN — Hood Ink Tattoo Zoo celebrated its three-year anniversary on Wednesday by hosting a back-to-school drive, where $20 tattoos were also offered.
The tattoo parlor had about 250 boxes filled with pencils, pens, glue, erasers and crayons — all donated by Staples — outside of its establishment.
A line formed from the front of the business, located at 515 Boston St., and wrapped around onto Childs Street as people waited in line to get a $20 tattoo from about 30 different available designs.
In regards to the school supply drive, Hood Ink Owner Jeffrey Brito said he tries to do some kind of drive every two to three weeks — whether it be school supplies, clothes or food — and decided to do the drive on the same day as the $20 tattoo offering in order to draw in more people.
“I like to use my platform for different things, so for our three-year anniversary I’m doing a promo for $20 tattoos and combining it with the school supply drive,” Brito said. “Knowing that all these people will be here for the promo, I figured we’d host the drive too, and a $1,200 raffle.”
Brito credited his longtime friend Jeison Gonzalez — who is a store director at Staples in Brighton and is from Lynn — for making the drive possible, as he was able to obtain a donation of more than 200 boxes of school supplies to distribute to the neighborhood.
“I grew up in Lynn and I remember when I was a kid, people would do stuff like this and help me out, so I just like to give it back and help out my community,” Brito said.
In the past, Brito has hosted food drives, including giving away turkeys around Thanksgiving; giveaways consisting of electronics, sneakers and clothes; and even donating bags filled with personal protective equipment (PPE) during the pandemic.
About two weeks ago, Brito distributed more than 300 boxes of school supplies and he plans to host another school supply giveaway at the annual Shoe City Basketball Classic during the first weekend in August.
“A lot of kids out here can’t really afford all of this stuff, so if we can help them out we’re going to,” Brito said.
When he has items to donate, Brito said word travels fast between social media and word of mouth. He also partners with Ward 6 Councilor Fred Hogan to support children and those in need in the community.
“If we don’t do things like this, then who’s going to?” Brito said. “I’m not the type of person to just stand around and wait for somebody to give me a hand.”
He said he hopes to continue to spread the word about these donation drives so he can reach more people.
Brito is also friends with the owners of the neighboring businesses and said they have teamed up together in the past to implement food drives and to bring the neighborhood together.
“Sometimes we have a lot of things that we take for granted, but there’s people out there that really don’t have much,” Brito said. “These are our people and this is where we’re from. We might not be able to help everybody, but if we can at least help one person it makes a difference.”
