Jennifer Nettles will be the star of this year's Starlight Charity Gala on April 9 to benefit the Northwest Arkansas Children's Shelter. The evening at the John Q. Hammons Center in Rogers will also include a cocktail reception, dinner, live auction and after party with dancing. Items on the auction block include a Dallas Cowboys Club experience, a week at a chateau in the Brittany region of France for 14 people and a Mexican villa for 11 nights.
The Children's Shelter in Vaughn, a private nonprofit organization, serves as 24-hour emergency shelter for area children who are victims of family violence, neglect and physical or sexual abuse.
Starlight Gala
What: Jennifer Nettles performance, dinner, live auction
When: 6 p.m. April 9
Where: John Q. Hammons Center in Rogers.
Tickets: $250
Information: (479) 795-2417, nwacs.org
Children may stay at the shelter for as many as 45 days in a six-month period before being placed in foster care. In their time there, children attend the shelter's on-site school and receive on-site counseling.
Scott Hutcheson, marketing director, said the shelter's programs have been enhanced and are growing. Residents now take part in Cooking Matters, which helps teach them to prepare healthy meals on a budget. The Life Skills program for teens covers topics such as balancing a checkbook, how to apply and interview for a job, violence and conflict management, healthy relationships, money management and drop-out prevention. Camp Imagine gives residents the opportunity to experience and enjoy summer camp they might not otherwise have.
Last year, the group launched its preschool program, which adheres to Arkansas guidelines for preschool education.
-- CARIN SCHOPPMEYER
NAN Our Town on 03/24/2016