Even in the midst of COVID-19, the Northwest Arkansas community is showing up for one another in all kinds of ways.
This is a continuation of our blog series highlighting various ways Northwest Arkansas is collectively expressing its unique, resilient and generous spirit.
1. $425,000!
On April 2, the Northwest Arkansas community set a new record for giving on a single day! Thanks to NWA Gives, $425,000 was raised to directly supporting hundreds of causes and thousands of our most vulnerable neighbors across the region. As the NWA Gives team noted in their update, the total and full impact of this support is impossible to measure!
2. In Memory of Officer Stephen Carr
In honor of Officer Stephen Carr, the Fayetteville Police Department recently handed out $500 worth of gift cards to 50 people waiting in the unemployment line in honor of Officer Stephen Carr Day.
April 13 has been designated Officer Stephen Carr Day in Fayetteville in honor of Carr’s badge number – #413. Carr was shot and killed in the Fayetteville Police Department parking lot in December 2019. (Source: KNWA)
3. Feed the Heard
Leverett Lounge owners, Hannah Withers and Ben Gitchel, launched the Feed the Heard program to provide free home-cooked, drive-by-and-pick-up meals to unemployed people from bars and restaurants throughout Fayetteville. In addition, they’ve partnered with Fayetteville Independent Restaurant Association to help put together grocery boxes for our industry people who need meals. Thanks to both of these initiatives well over 100 servers, cooks, and bartenders are getting some much needed assistance during this challenging time. You can sponsor a meal HERE or donate to the Fayetteville Hospitality Fund HERE, which is being used to provide financial relief to hospitality professionals furloughed because of COVID-19.
This is just one of many local food relief efforts, here are a few more examples:
Local startup, Supply Pike, recently purchased a week’s worth of lunches from Stone Mill Bread Co. to help feed 125 essential staff at Washington Regional Medical Center. Read about that effort HERE.
Meanwhile, Brightwater, Ropeswing Hospitality Group, Tyson Foods and local farms and purveyors have continued their efforts to provide healthy meals each week to medical teams at hospitals across Northwest Arkansas. Learn more and support the NWA Medical Meals Fund HERE
Owner of Jersey Mikes and Marco’s Pizza, Nick Morgan, whose efforts to help feed kids on free-or-reduced lunch programs benefitted 2,700 back in March, has shifted his focus to help feed first-responders. Catch up on that story HERE.
And as a final example, Bike Rack Brewing teamed up with The Pack Shack and Narrative Network to provide free food via a pop-up pantry at the brewery in Springdale. Pack Shack restocks the pantry weekly with canned foods and pre-packaged meals. Find more on this HERE.
4. Saving Lives
Lastly, did you know one blood donation can potentially save three lives?! Team members at Arkansas Children’s Northwest and Arkansas Children’s celebrated #ChildrensHospitalsWeek by donating more than 150 units of blood. These donations are more important now than ever as the coronavirus crisis has caused a significant decrease in blood donations around the state. If you are interested in donating blood, visit HERE.
