11-year-old who won mullet competition donates prize money to foster kids
Allan Baltz and his mullet are making a difference.
Allan, 11, and his twin sister, Alice, were in foster care in Jonesboro, Arkansas, before being adopted in 2015. The kids have "the biggest hearts," their mom Lesli Baltz told KATV, and never forgot what it was like to be fostered.
At the start of the pandemic, the family had fun trying out crazy hairstyles, with Allan embracing the mullet. A friend told them about the USA Mullet Championship, and Lesli said that as soon as Allan learned there was a $2,500 prize, "He instantly said, 'Oh I can do it and give the money to kids in foster care.' He would say sometimes his goal was that foster care would go out of business."
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Late last year, Allan won the kid's division in a landslide, and split the prize between two Arkansas nonprofits: Together We Foster and Project Zero. "When I was in foster care, I knew how it felt and I'm pretty sure they feel the same way, so I'm just really hoping they get a family," Allan told KATV.
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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
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