Bentonville Garden Club members and friends celebrated the group's 75th anniversary with a luncheon May 23 held at the home of club member Cynthia Coughlin in Centerton.
The club was founded in 1948 by 20 Bentonville women with a mission "to make Bentonville the most beautiful and friendliest city in Northwest Arkansas." Projects that have helped them fulfill their mission include garden therapy, youth education, city beautification, conservation efforts and the establishment of an endowment at the University of Arkansas of $115,000 that provides scholarships for students pursuing a degree in horticulture, according to their website.
The club will hold its first fundraiser of the year, a fashion show, Aug. 15 at Pinnacle Country Club in Rogers.
Garden club members and friends gathered to mark the milestone included DeLinda Mace, Sandy Edwards, Becky McCoy, Susan Kerr, Judy Geigle, Connie Ciskowski, Vera Amato, JoAnn Amato, Tarsha Shepard, Bridget Kittrell, Debbie Matteri, Linda Stiles, Susan Todd, Lori Eakins, Melody Martens, Tami Beaver, Julie Knight, Susan Schallhorn, Deborah Reynolds and Vickie Barnett.
Maternal health film focus
Danyelle Musselman, Tammy Sun and Alice Walton played hosts to an invitation-only luncheon June 13 that helped kick off the Bentonville Film Festival. The event featured a preview of "Giving Birth in America: Arkansas" and discussion of the film about maternal health. Guests learned that Arkansas leads the United States in maternal mortality, with 40 deaths per 100,000 annually. Geena Davis, festival founder and chairwoman, provided opening remarks at the luncheon held at The Momentary in Bentonville.
Erin Hawley Newbolt and Musselman shared with luncheon guests their stories of maternal health challenges and Sun, founder and CEO of Carrot Fertility, said, "Maternal health is the weather vane for the health of society a whole. It points us in the direction of where we have gone wrong and where we need to make important critical investments to course-correct."
The "Giving Birth in America" film series is a project of Every Mother Counts, "a nonprofit whose mission is to make pregnancy and childbirth safe, equitable and respectful for every mother, everywhere," according to a news release.
The panel discussion following the screening of Arkansas chapter of the series featured series director Nicole Mackinlay Hahn and Arkansas-based health care experts Sharmila Makhija, MD, MBA, CEO and founding dean of the Alice L. Walton School of Medicine, and Zenobia Harris, DNP, MPH, executive director of the Arkansas Birthing Project.
For more event photos -- nwadg.com/photos/society.
Columnist Carin Schoppmeyer can be reached by email at [email protected].
Judy Geigle, Bentonville Garden Club past president (from left); Elaine Kerr, past president; DeLinda Mace, president; Becky McCoy, historian; and Sandy Edwards, vice president, celebrate the club's 75th anniversary May 23 at the home of Cynthia Coughlin in Centerton. (NWA Democrat-Gazette/Carin Schoppmeyer)
Connie Ciskowski (from left), Vera Amato, JoAnn Amato, Tarsha Shepard and Bridget Kittrell enjoy the Bentonville Garden Club luncheon. (NWA Democrat-Gazette/Carin Schoppmeyer)
Tammy Sun (from left), Erin Hawley Newbolt and Danyelle Musselman help focus attention on maternal health at a luncheon June 13 in Bentonville. (NWA Democrat-Gazette/Carin Schoppmeyer)
Debra Layton (from left), Susan Schallhorn and Vickie Barnett visit at the Bentonville Garden Club luncheon. (NWA Democrat-Gazette/Carin Schoppmeyer)
Tami Beaver (from left), Elaine Kerr and Julie Knight celebrate the Bentonville Garden Club's anniversary May 23. (NWA Democrat-Gazette/Carin Schoppmeyer)
Becky McCoy (from left), Lori Eakins, Bridget Kittrell and Vickie Barnett attend the Bentonville Garden Club luncheon.
Deborah Reynolds (from left), DeLinda Mace and Susan Todd visit at the Bentonville Garden Club luncheon. (NWA Democrat-Gazette/Carin Schoppmeyer)
Debbie Matteri (from left), Cynthia Coughlin and Linda Stiles visit at the Bentonville Garden Club's 75th anniversary celebratory luncheon at Coughlin's home May 23. (NWA Democrat-Gazette/Carin Schoppmeyer)