"It's just what they do."
That pretty much sums up Bill and Sharri Jones.
The quote was from Chris Peterson, then-athletic director and a vice chancellor at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, and the occasion was a $100,000 donation from the Joneses to support athletics at the university.
"Bill and Sharri are just tremendous friends of UAPB and have a heart for helping others," Peterson said. "While I was certainly pleased with the call that they would be making the gift, I wasn't surprised. It's just what they do."
The Joneses, along with founder Sissy Jones, own Sissy's Log Cabin. The two are considered top donors at the university, having given more than $400,000 to "UAPB. Let that sink in.
"We've been tremendously blessed," said Bill Jones. "We understand the impact that UAPB has on this community. Our hope is that others will join us in helping to grow support for the university."
And that is happening. The sports program, for one, has received contributions from corporations and alumni. Simmons Bank donated $2.5 million a few years ago, leading to the refurbishment of the school's football stadium, and donations to the baseball program led to improvements at the Torii Hunter Baseball Complex.
Not only do the Joneses know what UAPB means to the community, Sharri Jones' experience is personal.
"UAPB took care of me," said Sharri Jones, who is a 1988 graduate of the university. "As a student, I was able to mature and become part of a larger campus family."
We applaud the Jones family for its caring and generous nature. UAPB is one of the bedrock institutions in Pine Bluff and southeast Arkansas. Its existence and growth are inextricably tied to the future of this area. Supporting it is vital. Universities do not grow from student tuition. It takes grants and aid and especially donations from people like Bill and Sharri Jones. As Bill Jones said, let this donation be a catalyst for additional outpourings of support from others.
Certainly, few people can give to the level of the Jones donation, but in the way that small contributions build to a crescendo, the university merits attention, no matter what level that is.