Soup Sunday Celebrates 10 Years

EVENT AIDS ARKANSAS ADVOCATES

— “A parent working the nightshift at a factory ... can’t take time off to lobby to make sure their child has access to pre-K programs,” says Laura Kellams, Northwest Arkansas director for Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families.“But we can.”

The shortest explanation of what the nonprofit organization does is this, Kellams says: “We provide a voice for the most vulnerable kids in Arkansas when lawmakers and policymakers are making decisions that will aff ect them.”

According to its mission statement, Arkansas Advocates gathers and analyzes data to support public policy that serves all children and families, organizes coalitions of diverse groups to drive change, and serves as a voice for children at thestate Capitol and in Washington, D.C.

Arkansas Advocates doesn’t provide direct services, Kellams says - its representatives aren’t teaching a 3-year-old her ABCs or performing surgery. “But the work that we do helps other organizations do that, provide those services.”

It is the organization’s purpose to explain how changes in legislation would impact low-income families, Kellams says, but its staffalso presents proactive solutions that its leaders find working in other states.

The most recognizable result of the organization’s work is the creation of the ARKids First health insurance program, she says, which Advocates pushed for in the mid- and late-1990s. That program provides coverage options for more than 70,000 Arkansas children from low-income working families who might otherwise go without.

The nonprofit agency also puts together the state’s annual Kids Count rankings, showing where Arkansas stands in child well-being categories compared to other states.

In recent years, Arkansas has ranked high for its access to early childhood education,Kellams says, which results from the Arkansas Better Chance program providing preschool services to underserved 3- and 4-year-olds.

However, the state ranked 49th in child poverty, she says, which is a factor that affects other categories across the board. “A sick kid can’t learn,” she says, for example.

The overarching goal of the organization is “to let kids live up to their fullpotential to be productive members of our society,” Kellams says. “It’s better for all of us in the long run if they are.”

Arkansas Advocates was founded in Little Rock in 1977 and opened a Northwest Arkansas off ce in 2008. It’s a nonpartisan organization, Kellams points out, and because it doesn’t provide direct services - doesn’t hire the doctors or teachers for the programs that it’s trying to fund - Arkansas Advocates has more credibility as an objective voice, she thinks.

The third congressional district in Arkansas, which spans 12 counties in Northwest Arkansas, has grown a lot, Kellams says, and so hasits child poverty rate. From 2008 to 2009, the last year of data available, the rate went from 20 to 25 percent, she says. “So in one year we went from one in five kids in poverty to one in four kids in poverty, when the recession hit.”

Solving such a problem isn’t a quick process.

Arkansas Advocates starts with research to find out what the need is, then what can be done better to serve it, she explains. Then the organization has the task of convincing policymakers and the public what’s needed and, furthermore, that it’s worth the investment.

“Sometimes it’ll take 10 years for our work to get passed,” Kellams says. “Butwe keep working at it.”

And fundraisers such as the Soup Sunday event on Feb. 27 help them continue.

The organization’s signature fundraiser has been held in Little Rock for 30 years and in Northwest Arkansas since before there was an offce in the area.

“We have long had a group of really strong supporters in this region,” Kellams says, and they have been holding a Soup Sunday for going on 10 years “because they felt so strongly about raising money for this organization to do its work.”

The event moved from area churches to the Northwest Arkansas Convention Center in Springdale last year, growing from about300 participants to 550. Organizers hope to grow it again this year, Kellams says.

For the casual event, attendees receive a holder similar to a muff n tin (some seasoned Soup Sunday-ers bring their own real muff n tins) and can collect cups of soup samples from 25 area restaurants and caterers.

Soups like Crawfish Corn Bisque from Cafe Rue Orleans in Fayetteville, vegetable soup from Spring Street Grill in Springdale, and Fresh Shiitake Mushroom soup from the Green Bean in Rogers are just a taste of what will be oft ered, along with breads, desserts and ice cream for the children, Kellams says. “It’s a good time.”

Our Town, Pages 1 on 02/20/2011

Upcoming Events