Speakers Circuit: Ralston to speak at Rotary
Patrick Ralston, executive director of the Arkansas Arts Council, an agency of the Department of Arkansas Heritage, will be the guest speaker when the Rotary Club meets at noon on Monday at St. Mary’s Episcopal Church.
He is a former natural history museum curator, a lifelong art photographer, a veteran of more than 14 years on the staff of the Arkansas General Assembly, a recovering historic preservationist and a native of North Little Rock. Ralston has a bachelor’s of science degree in history from the University of Central Arkansas and a master’s of public administration degree from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. He is the father of three teenage sons.
Alexis Alexander,
executive director of the United Way of Union County, will be the guest speaker when the Kiwanis Club meets at noon on Wednesday at First Presbyterian Church.
She oversees the local campaign that raised more than $1.2 million in 2016, the county-wide Dolly Parton Imagination Library program and the Union County Hunger Relief Alliance.
Alexander is a graduate of Caddo Magnet High School and Louisiana State University in Shreveport, Leadership Arkansas and the three-year Community Development Institute at the University of Central Arkansas. She is past president of the El Dorado Jaycees and past committee chair for MusicFest. She currently serves as secretary-treasurer of Rotary Club of El Dorado and Crime Stoppers of El Dorado and is a member of the El Dorado Parks & Playground Commission.
Alexander lives in El Dorado with her six rescue dogs – Sam, Dixie, Sir Shorty, Sadie, River and PJ.
Robin Bridges,
University of Arkansas System Division Agriculture Extension county agent for Union County, will be the guest speaker at noon on Thursday when the El Dorado Civitan Club meets at noon at Kozy Kitchen.
Bridges has a bachelor’s
degree from Louisiana Tech University in Ruston and a master’s degree from Louisiana State University at Baton Rouge. He worked for 25 years with the LSU Ag Center in north Louisiana. He has worked at the extension service in Union County for eight years.
He works with adult and youth audiences to instill a strong sense of self-worth through activities that teach, “we can raise our own food,” and “we can build and maintain healthy communities-one family at a time,” he said. (Organizations interested in listing a speaker in Speakers Circuit should send information about the speaker to editorial@eldoradonews.com. A club member should provide background information on their speakers in writing or by e-mail to the News-Times. The deadline for submitting background information is 5 p.m. on Thursday for the following Sunday’s newspaper).