Eleven-year-old Amy was about half way through her haircut Monday afternoon but paying little attention to what stylist Amanda Lee was doing with her blond locks. She was too busy working on a piece of yellow putty in her hand.

At one point she shaped it into a heart. Later, it was something else. But when Lee was finished cutting and unbuttoned the smock pinned at her client’s neck, Amy had molded her putty into a miniature hand. With it, she grinned and high fived Lee in thanks for her new look.

Across the hall, stylist OmarAntonio had just finished cutting and styling a teen’s long, black hair. Moments later, she came back smiling and interrupted a conversation to tell him she loved it.

“There is something very important about our responsibility as hairdressers to really read the client, to really see them,” he said. “I want to reintroduce my clients to themselves, so a good haircut is so important.”

These seemingly small moments — a smile into a hand held mirror, a flip of the ‘do, a handshake — were happening Monday across the donated space at Church Unstoppable. For three hours, about 60 stylists and barbers volunteered their time and skill to give free cuts and styles to an almost equal number of children and young adults from 10 to 25, all of whom have been touched by foster care or social service programs.

There were three DJs on stage. There were two live singers. Along one wall were tables lined up and loaded with brand new backpacks for the taking. At the entrance to the hall were hand-painted trucker hats created by Dom Chi Designs in Sebastopol, also for the taking. In yet another room was free food and drink. Throughout the three-hour event raffle prizes were given out: Apple headphones, Beats headphones, a JBL speaker, tickets to a Santa Rosa Growlers hockey game, Amazon gift cards, restaurant gift cards and jewelry.

It was all the brain child of KT Maggio, a barber at Daredevils & Queens Salon and Barbershop in Santa Rosa. And it was born of a seemingly simple ask.

It started with an annual holiday giving event held by nonprofit Our Village Closet, a group that runs a full-scale, foster care support operation out of thousands of square feet of space at St. Lutheran’s Church on Mendocino Avenue in Santa Rosa. Under the direction of executive director and co-founder Amanda Kitchens, foster care providers can pick up, for free, necessities for kids and young adults in their care, everything from strollers to socks to bathing suits and winter coats.

There are 1,000 individual kids or young adults registered with OVC, but the number of people who access their free services typically hovers around 5,000, Kitchens said.

Our Village Closet for the past five years has held a holiday giving program that has grown from 167 youth in 2021 to 769 kids this year. It was for that event that someone at OVC reached out to Maggio and asked if she could provide gift certificates for hair cuts.

Maggio said she would do one better. One a lot better.

She put out the call to the wider stylist and barber community in Sonoma County and asked for folks to show up for three hours on Monday, donate their time and skills, and send young adults back into the world looking sharp and feeling good.

“I didn’t even say much,” Maggio said of the invitation to her peers. “They just said ‘We’re in, we’re in, we’re in.’”

To say people rallied for the event would be underselling what unfolded Monday.

The top shelf cuts, the next level raffle prizes, the DJs, the food — it was a full-scale experience.

“I wanted them to feel special today,” Maggio said.

Barber Jesus “Chuy” Dominguez helped with perhaps the most obvious transformation Monday when a young man with sandy hair falling down to his shoulders sat down in Dominguez’s chair and said he wanted it all off.

“He asked for a five guard on top which is less than half an inch and then he wanted a rat tail in the back,” Dominguez said. “I always triple check when it’s a transformation that big but he was on it and I was like, ‘Alright, bro.’”

“He knew exactly what he wanted,” he said. “It was cool.”

And it was. After Dominquez tapped a stylist to braid the rat tail in the back, the young man cracked a small smile into the mirror.

“Things like this just fill my heart,” Maggio said, noting that Daredevils & Queens regularly supports haircuts for the homeless events and community outreach efforts. “I just wanted to come together and make these kids feel like number one.”

In addition to her colleagues at Daredevils & Queens, she tapped friends at Chuck’s Barbershop in Santa Rosa and Oak and Ivy Salon in Rohnert Park, who brought folks on Monday. She also tapped longtime friend Jose “JayTee” Tapia who, in addition to his 293,000 Instagram followers, runs the 15-chair Visionz Barbershop in Santa Rosa and, to Maggio’s way of thinking, is a star in the barbering world.

That would explain the small crowd of fellow barbers that gathered around Tapia when he pulled out his scissors and began to ply his craft on the dark locks of a young teenaged boy Monday.

“For men, for boys, it’s like our make up,” Tapia said of a haircut. “For me, being able to build confidence in a kid, there is nothing like it. People come to us before a first date, before a wedding, before any special day because a haircut alone can make anyone feel that much more special and that much more confident.”

That is what moved OVC’s Kitchens on Monday — the gift of confidence, the gift of being seen.

“It’s the fact that this many stylists and barbers showed up and showed up with heart,” she said. “It’s ‘You matter.’ Not necessarily you matter because of what happened to you but you matter just because of who you are…A haircut for so many of us, especially in this age group, it’s about how we show up in society. To be able to show up like everybody else and blend in is such a gift.”

Alexandra Montoya feels this.

Montoya is raising her 12-year-old granddaughter, Irie. Irie is bi-racial, her hair looks different from her grandmother’s, and that has made finding a stylist tricky. On Monday, Montoya was emotional about seeing her granddaughter pampered.

“Somebody needs to know her hair,” she said. “The truth is, I don’t.”

But the people who volunteered Monday did.

“This is wonderful, this makes a difference,” Montoya said. “It’s the mix of people. The cutters, the stylists, they volunteered their time. We understand what that means. They put heart into it.”

As stylist Natalie Dixon finished cutting Irie’s hair, they had a brief conversation. Irie decided she wanted her hair straightened on this day. Dixon got to work. Nearby, Montoya watched, deeply moved.

“All of these kids have lost someone, in one way or another,” she said. “That’s what makes what they are doing here a thing of beauty.”

You can reach Staff Columnist Kerry Benefield at 707-526-8671 or kerry.benefield@pressdemocrat.com. On Instagram @kerry.benefield.

Organizers at the Santa Cruz County Fair are asking the public for ideas for a theme for the 2026 County Fair.

Anyone who has a “phrase that pops” or a “rhyme that shines” is invited to submit it.

“Imagine your words splashed across every poster and sign,” The Fair Board stated in an announcement. “If you’ve got a clever saying or catchy theme, now’s the time to share it in the Santa Cruz County Fair Annual Fair Theme Contest.”

Anyone with a creative theme— “with a little red, white, and blue sparkle” in honor of the United States’ 250th birthday,” is invited to send in their ideas.

The winning theme will be featured throughout the fair, and earn four free fair tickets plus a free parking pass.

The deadline is Jan. 13 at 5pm.

To submit your theme, email in**@*****************ir.com, send mail to Santa Cruz County Fair, Theme Contest, 2601 East Lake Avenue, Watsonville, CA 95076 or visit visit bit.ly/4bkX2RS

Funding available to activate Youth Week events on Redlands Coast – Redland Bayside News

NOT-FOR-PROFIT organisations are being encouraged to apply for funding to deliver free or low-cost events on Redlands Coast as part of Queensland Youth Week 2026. Redland City Mayor Jos Mitchell said funding was available through Council’s Activate Redlands Coast Youth Week Program for events and …

As on most evenings, the Henrico Sports and Events Center echoed Dec. 1 with the sounds of youth sports: running feet, basketballs drumming on floors, and shouts of triumph or dismay as volleyballs were slammed home.

But on one basketball court, the clamor of squeaking sneakers and balls thudding against backboards was just distant background noise. In this arena, dozens of fifth-grade students were showing off their history projects – while educating their parents and teachers about significant Henrico events, places and persons.

At one display, students stood beside a screen highlighting photos and facts about the Henrico Theatre. The old-fashioned spelling of “theater,” they explained, is still used because that was the custom when the Theatre opened in 1938. A few years later, when World War II broke out, the site was even designated as a bomb shelter.

Today, the restored movie house is used for a variety of arts programming, films, community events and celebrations, and is distinguished not only by listings on national and state historic registers, but by its designation as the only example of art deco architecture in the county.

At another station, Quintus Tian and Corbyn Constanzer of Shady Grove E.S. had constructed a Henrico map large enough to cover a tabletop, and were eager to explain the sites of historical interest sketched throughout the county. Asked why they had created a traditional map – using paper instead of a digital display, as many of their peers had done – the boys were emphatic.

“Too small!” said one, pointing out the hand-drawn illustrations that bordered the map, and indicating that the expanse of paper was superior to a screen for depicting scale and enhancing impact.

Among other projects on display were several featuring famous figures with Henrico ties, such as Pocahontas, Virginia Randolph, and Arthur Ashe, Jr. Depictions of historic sites ranged from the Theatre and Dabbs House to Echo Lake Park and Richmond International Airport, while displays featuring events centered around such struggles as the Seven Days Battles and Gabriel’s Rebellion.

A few students from each magisterial district took home top honors for their projects (see list below) – but the celebrations were not limited to the big winners. Parents lingered after the awards ceremony taking family photos, while students continued to share stories of how they chose their topics and created their projects.

Corbyn and Quintus were among the students who clearly enjoyed revealing “tricks of the trade” they had used in crafting their project. Asked what modern-day techniques had produced such an authentic-looking map – complete with browned edges and yellow tints to give it the look of a centuries-old relic – they grinned knowingly and announced, “We used shoe polish!”

Henrico History Project award-winners

Formerly known as the Henrico Historical Awareness Project, the Henrico History Project is a partnership of Henrico County Public Schools and the Henrico Preservation Advisory Committee. The following students in each magisterial district took top honors for their projects this year:

Brookland District
First place – Emma Salang and Aryaa Adivarekar; Springfield Park E.S.
Second place – Luke Baum; Greenwood E.S.
Third place – Skye Robbins, Erum Jebran and Sara Faqirzada; Dumbarton E.S.

Fairfield District
First place – Jurnee Clarke, Dionne Hawkins and Aziyah Hill; Harvie E.S.
Second place – Samara Giles and Kaylan Huynh; Longdale E.S.
Third place – Avery Umbarger, Ruben Caballero, & Monroe Redding; Chamberlayne E.S.

Three Chopt District
First place – Luke Jualayba; Colonial Trail E.S.
Second place – Audrey Kim, Brody Miller and Sienna Harter; Kaechele E.S.
Third place – Charles Cobb; Rivers Edge

Tuckahoe District
First place – Bodie Bluford; Gayton E.S.
Second place – Yassine Dahri, Magnus Sorensen and Oliver Hall; Three Chopt E.S.
Third place – Kate Groth & Winnie Young; Maybeury E.S.

Varina District
First place – Georgina Bueno; Baker E.S.
Second place – Kayden Howard and D’Zaria Mines; Highland Springs E.S.
Third place – Lauren Crawley; Ward E.S.

CHERRYVILLE, N.C. — Dr. Bud Black is retiring after 60 years of coaching basketball, marking the conclusion of a highly influential career at the age of 82.

Known as “Mr. Basketball” since 1961, Dr. Black has dedicated his life to the sport, prioritizing the positive impact he has made on countless players over mere win-loss records.

Dr. Black improved the Gardner-Webb Ladies team’s record from five wins to fifteen wins in just one season, showcasing his exceptional coaching abilities and commitment to developing young athletes.

He is also highly educated, holding two earned doctorates and several master’s degrees, which reflect his pursuit of knowledge and dedication to personal growth.

Reflecting on his coaching philosophy, Dr. Black stated, “I never went into coaching with a burning desire to always win, although I do that.”

He emphasized the importance of seeing his players succeed in life beyond the court, saying, “That’s more important than anything. The wins and losses, to see these young people succeed.”

As he transitions from coaching, Dr. Black will continue his work as a remote instructor at Thomas Edison State University in New Jersey.

He explained his perspective on measurement of success: “Some people count the number of wins, that’s something I have never done.”

In a poignant reflection, one former player credited Dr. Black for his success, stating, “You are single-handedly responsible for my success. You always made sure there was a place for me.”

This sentiment encapsulates the real legacy he leaves behind—his unwavering support for each player he coached.

Dr. Black will be honored during a special ceremony at Cherryville High School’s home game, a fitting tribute to his remarkable career and impact on the community.

He indicated, “I never thought I’d retire,” hinting at his enduring passion for coaching and mentorship.

VIDEO: Former North Meck basketball standout hosts basketball camp in Concord

Former North Meck basketball standout hosts basketball camp in Concord

©2026 Cox Media Group