Riverside Barbershop owner Alexander Alvarado grew up poor.
These days, he gives back to children who grew up like him by giving away school supplies, backpacks and free back-to-school haircuts.
Donated school supplies sit inside Riverside Barbershop to be given away during the free back-to-school haircut event. (Cristian ArguetaSoto | Fort Worth Report) 
Fort Worth ISD District 9 trustee Roxanne Martinez carries boxes full of backpacks on Aug. 9. (Cristian ArguetaSoto | Fort Worth Report) 
People wait to be let into Riverside Barbershop’s free haircut event on Aug. 9. (Cristian ArguetaSoto | Fort Worth Report) 
Carmen Aurora cuts a child’s hair on Aug. 9 at the Riverside Barbershop, 520 N. Riverside Drive, back-to-school event. Aurora has been working at Riverside Barbershop for almost two years. (Cristian ArguetaSoto | Fort Worth Report) 
Riverside Barbershop staff prepares to provide free back-to-school haircuts on Aug. 9. From left to right: Alexander Alvarado, Tiffany Antinille, Carmen Aurora, Leslie Zaragoza, Alex Trejo, Sonny Aguirre. (Cristian ArguetaSoto | Fort Worth Report)
“I like to do these kinds of things because when I was a kid, we were very, very poor. We couldn’t afford anything, and before social media, my mom knew where all the things were going to go down,” Alvarado said. “I remember all them days, man. And I always appreciated that I had shoes and I had school supplies because of events like this.”
The free back-to-school haircuts event Aug. 9 was the third Riverside Barbershop, 520 N. Riverside Drive, has offered since its opening. The barbershop provides free birthday, graduation and back-to-school haircuts, Alvarado said.
At the first two back-to-school haircuts event, the barbers conducted over 100 haircuts, Alvarado said. This go-round, children and their parents lined up nearly an hour before doors opened at 10 a.m.
“It’s our third year, and each year it gets bigger and bigger. And, yeah, we have more and more supporters each year,” Alvarado said.
One barber, Carmen Aurora, has been cutting for nearly two years at Riverside Barbershop. She likes giving back to the community, she said.
“Moms that have four or five kids at $25 per haircut, it’s a lot,” Aurora said.
Cristian ArguetaSoto is the community engagement journalist at the Fort Worth Report. Contact him by email or via Twitter. At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.