Six barbershops and dozens of families came together on August 9th to bring awareness to infant mortality and have fun before the start of the school year at the Barbers for Babies Infant Mortality and Back to School Jam.

The local barber shops participated in a 3-on-3 basketball tournament at the Woodland Acres Boys and Girls Club in Arlington. In addition to basketball, the first 200 school-aged children that attended where given books bags filled with school supplies to get them ready to start the school year. Long-time Barber for Babies member JD Upson, of the The Cut Above barbershop, manned the grill.

Throughout the event, information about infant mortality and ways to prevent it were announced to the crowd. Participants also had a chance to check out information from The Magnolia Project, Jacksonville Children’s Commission, THE PLAYERS Center for Child Health, the Boys and Girls Club of Northeast Florida and Molina Healthcare during the health fair.

At the end of the day a special plaque was given to the family of Winston Thompson Sr., who passed away earlier in the year. He was a champion for Barbers for Babies and was a volunteer for the Coalition for more than four years.