SAN BERNARDINO >> A steady stream of clients, many of them children and teens, made their way to Luxury Cuts on Sunday and walked away with a free haircut and free school supplies.
Outside the barbershop there was free entertainment, food booths and a booth run by representatives of a company recruiting people for jobs in customer service.
The event was the idea of Trevaugn Moore, a San Bernardino man who is trying to get the message out that people in the city care about each other and are willing to lend a hand to help others achieve their highest potential.
“San Bernardino has more to offer,” Moore said Saturday evening as he prepared for Sunday’s event. “San Bernardino isn’t a dead, no-good city.”
San Bernardino’s residents have a broad range of talent and with a little help they can shine and along the way cast a positive light on the city they call home, he said.
Sunday’s event at Luxury Cuts, 1357 Kendall Drive, was a way to encourage people, particularly youth, to dream and then strive to achieve those dreams, he said.
Moore, 22, an athlete who competes in several fields but primarily in boxing and martial arts, organized the event with the help of friends and family members, among them Leonard Lighten, who owns the barbershop.
Lighten said that when his cousin presented the idea and asked him to take part, the response was simple.
“Let’s go! Let’s do it,” Lighten said.
“People still care about human beings,” he said. “People care about those that are less fortunate than others.”
In the first 21/2 hours of the eight-hour event about 150 young people came through the shop’s doors and picked up school supplies. About 50 of them had their hair cut, Lighten said.
Barber Kenneth Moore of Highland, no relation to Trevaugn, was among the shops’s staff members who also participated in the event.
Kenneth said a haircut can make all the difference to a young person.
“It can make them feel better about themselves and that gives them confidence in themselves,” he said.
Jordan Reynoso, 14, of San Bernardino has had his hair cut before at the shop.
He’d been planning to come out another day for a cut but went in Sunday, a day the shop is usually closed.
“I like the staff here. They’re all really good,” Jordan said as Kenneth finished up his cut.
Like other young people, he walked away with school supplies that included notebooks, paper and other material.
Some of the school supplies were donated by First Five San Bernardino and by Elite Communications. The Ontario-based employment agency was offering employment opportunities in various areas including customer service, sales and tech support, said Darryl Drake, the company’s founder.
