Northwest Personal Space

Jill Hatfield

Jill Hatfield of the Northwest Arkansas Family YMCA loves to spend time on her family's boat dock at Beaver Lake.
Jill Hatfield of the Northwest Arkansas Family YMCA loves to spend time on her family's boat dock at Beaver Lake.

Where I live: We have 20 acres just inside the Fayetteville city limits. We’ve been here about 20 years. We chose this house because it was in the center of the property, very secluded and had lots of places to explore.

Occupation: Program director for the Northwest Arkansas Family YMCA. We have three main focuses — youth development, healthy living and social responsibility. We just finished our founder’s campaign in April. Right now, we’re offering different programs throughout Northwest Arkansas. A lot of our programs are youth-focused. We are what they consider a “Y without walls,” meaning that we have no permanent home. We basically take our programs to wherever there are participants.

My favorite space: Our dock on Beaver Lake.

Why? The scenery is always changing. There’s always an abundance of wildlife. I think a lot of folks don’t know what a treasure we have in Beaver Lake. When you get out into open waters, it’s pristine.

If I could do one thing to improve this space I would: Put on solar panels and a wind turbine. If we could harness some of that wind and sun and generate some energy off that, it would be great.

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