Some people pretty much have to be deeply involved with a charity or charities. It's either an implicit or explicit duty attendant their esteemed (professional) position. This is what Arvest Bank President Jim Cargill and the communications director for Ben E. Keith Foods here in town, Yvette Parker, were talking about at Tie One On, the fall fundraiser for Our House.
"This board is my board. I joined this one because I wanted to. It's incredible," Cargill said.
"You see the lives changing right in front of you," Parker said.
"I'm telling you!"
Among Our House supporters, this is not an uncommon level of devotion.
Our House is the shelter for working homeless. Folks who get in must be employed within a certain short span of time -- days. The shelter and its executive director, Georgia Mjartan, recently celebrated the opening of an enormous new multipurpose facility built in part on a $5 million capital campaign spearheaded by Jan Alman.
This was the eighth Tie One On, a live and silent auction with food by Simply the Best and drinks from Glazer's. It raised about $137,000, said development coordinator Lizzy Chandler.
One of the leitmotifs of the night is aprons redesigned (painted) by artists. One of the centerpieces of these was an apron painted by Emily Wood of local distance runner Jacob Wells, aka Marathon Boy, who died Nov. 6 after collapsing from a heart attack while running in a marathon in Wynne on Nov. 1.
That apron ended up not being sold but given to Wells' longtime girlfriend, Jaynie Cannon.
-- Photos and story by Bobby Ampezzan
High Profile on 12/14/2014