Northwest Arkansas FACES

By Brandi Sellers

Posted: August 30, 2009 at 5:35 a.m.

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Local citizens receive Silas Hunt Legacy Award

Ronnie Brewer of Farmington and Salt Lake City and Gerald Jordan of Fayetteville recently received the University of Arkansas' Silas Hunt Legacy Award. The award recognizes African-Americans for their contributions to the community, state and nation. Throughout the 2009-10 academic year, the recipients will visit with students and the community on the University of Arkansas campus.

Brewer is a Fayetteville native who played basketball at Fayetteville High School and also for three years with the Arkansas Razorback basketball team. In 2006, the Utah Jazz made him the 14th pick in the NBA draft, and he is currently a starting guard for the team. During the offseason, Brewer comes back to Fayetteville to train and mentor current basketball players. In addition, in September 2008, he donated $50,000 for a scholarship to support students from Arkansas who are interested in journalism and are part of the African American Studies Program.

Jordan is an associate professor in the department of journalism at the University of Arkansas. He works closely with the chancellor to recruit, retain and support African-American and other minority students, staff and faculty for the campus. He is the first African-American chairman of the Arkansas Alumni Association Board of Directors, and he is the founding leader of two alumni societies for black graduates of the university. Jordan was the first and only faculty member at the University of Arkansas to be named as the University of Arkansas Volunteer of the Year. He spearheaded an effort to bring more minority students interested in journalism to the university by launching the Lemke High School Journalism Project, in which Hispanic students from the region spend time on campus learning about journalism and putting together a newspaper.

The Silas Hunt Legacy Award was created by the university in 2005 and first awarded in 2006. This year's recipients were nominated by the public and selected by a volunteer selection committee of University of Arkansas alumni, friends, faculty, students and staff.

J.C. Penney donates to Boys & Girls Club

J.C. Penney recently held a "Round Up" fundraiser to benefit after school programming at the Donald W. Reynolds Boys & Girls Club of Fayetteville, a J.C. Penney Afterschool Fund partner. During the event, J.C. Penney customers were invited to round up their purchases to the nearest whole dollar and donate the difference to the J.C. Penney Afterschool Fund.

The Afterschool Fund was created in 2001 and has contributed more than $70 million to support after school programs.

J.C. Penney, located in the Northwest Arkansas Mall in Fayetteville, raised more than $2,900, enabling children to attend the Boys & Girls Club after school program, which includes Power Hour, a daily homework help initiative.

Allstate donates to Peace at Home

Peace at Home Family Shelter's Arkansas WomenAchieving program recently received a $10,000 donation from Allstate Insurance Co. The donation will further AWA's goals of helping domestic violence survivors with financial, personal and career empowerment.

"We are very appreciative of the support that Allstate has given us," said Maria Thompson-McSperitt, Peace at Home's transitional services coordinator, in a press release. "AWA has been a very successful program that has provided a solid foundation for women as they create their new independent lives. We are very grateful for the support of the business community."

AWA is a three-phase economic empowerment program that assists women with gaining the skills necessary to obtain employment, pursue a career or education, restore dignity and the right to self-determination.

To date, 100 percent of the women who attended the program have completed it.

Gaston named Fellow of Arkansas Bar Foundation

Colene Gaston of Fayetteville, staff attorney for Beaver Water District, was designated a Fellow of the Arkansas Bar Foundation on June 10.

The Arkansas Bar Foundation is the charitable arm of the Arkansas Bar Association. The foundation's mission includes supporting continuing legal education for lawyers, supporting efforts to diffuse knowledge of the law and publishing reports and other literary works on legal subjects.

Gaston joined Beaver Water District in 2006, where she provides legal counseling primarily on environmental issues, including regulatory compliance and source water protection. She has spent most of her more than 25-year career as a lawyer focused on environmental issues.

Local mother wins $10,000 in dental work

Savanah Hamby recently received a $10,000 smile makeover courtesy of Life Style Dentistry in Rogers.

Hamby, 25, is an educator at Pages of Parenting in Fayetteville and has always been self-conscious about her smile, according to the press release. Mother to a 13-month-old boy, Sawyer, Hamby received six veneers on her front teeth, root canals, new filings and overall whitening.

Her smile makeover received its finishing touches Aug. 18. Afterward, Hamby was treated to a makeup and hair makeover and professional photographs.

Hamby won the makeover through nwaMotherlode.com, an online magazine targeted at Northwest Arkansas mothers and their families.

Living, Pages 14 on 08/30/2009

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