SPOTLIGHT ARKANSAS ADVOCATES FOR CHILDREN AND FAMILIES

Sprucing up the tables is her Soup Sunday gift

— FAYETTEVILLE - It’s a lot of work, but Jana Mayfield is happy to do it every year, free of charge.

Mayfield will be donating decorations for the 12th annual Soup Sunday, a major fundraiser for Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families. The event will take place on Feb. 24 at the Northwest Arkansas Convention Center in Springdale. (Arkansas Advocates’ Little Rock event is today at Embassy Suites.)

A floral designer, Mayfield has dressed the tables for every Soup Sunday heldin Northwest Arkansas.

“What I really like about this organization is that it affects all families, all the children in Arkansas, through the work that they do,” Mayfield says. “I don’t know who would do that if not for them.”

Mayfield has always had a deep concern for the welfare of children. At one time she taught art to sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders in southern Missouri, as well as to special-education students, before embarking on a corporate career, and then starting her floral-design business.

Many of the kids shetaught were growing up in poverty, and their struggles - and triumphs - affected Mayfield.

“Giving them a good, quality program, which I really worked hard on, just opened up some of those kids,” she says. “We had a couple that were in trouble all the time, but once they got involved in art and had some successes, they just turned into different kids. It was the most amazing thing.”

Through Mayf ield’s work as a teacher, she says she learned the importance of intervening in children’slives, and that they needed to be given the right resources at a young age to flourish.

This made her a natural fit with Arkansas Advocates, a nonpartisan, nonprofit agency founded in Little Rock in 1977 to provide an independent voice for children at the state Capitol and in Washington. It focuses on several issues, including health, child welfare, juvenile justice and early childhood education.

Over the years, Arkansas Advocates’ efforts have played a role in increased funding for preschools for at-risk 3- and 4-year-olds, as well as the creation of ARKids First health insurance program, which has reduced the rate of uninsured children by more than twothirds since 1997.

More recently, it has spearheaded a comprehensive review of Arkansas’ juvenile-justice system. Like many things Advocates works toward, the idea is that by investing today, the state will ultimately save money,while children throughout Arkansas will have better outcomes.

Sometimes people “have a hard time understanding what we do,” Mayfield says. “What we do is not tangible as far as a product, but it’s a process where we influence policy and do research and write reports that talk about all the families and children in Arkansas.”

Educating the public is a big part of Soup Sunday. So, too, is providing a fun atmosphere for families.

More than 25 restaurants donate soups, breads and desserts to the event, which runs from 4 to 7 p.m. There’s music and raffle items, and many longtime attendees bring customized soup-cup carriers - or muffin tins, capable of holding several soups - to maximize sampling.

Mayfield is making three styles of decorative pieces for the 45 tables. At the end of the evening, they will be given to volunteers.

“[I want] those people to get to go home with something,” Mayfield says. “That’s a really important aspect of what I do. ... It’s fun, and it’sfamily friendly. There’s kids running around, dancing to the music.”

Tickets are $20 in advance,$25 at the door, and $5 for children ages 12 and under. Last year’s Soup Sunday drew about 600 people, raising almost $50,000.

For more information about Soup Sunday, call (479) 927-9800 or visit aradvocates.org.

Northwest Profile, Pages 33 on 02/17/2013

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