Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Council opens house
Residents gather to support literacy
More than 700 Miller McNeill Woodruff Foundation backers joined the group March 31 at the Fayetteville Town Center for the sixth annual Cupcakes & Cocktails benefit.
The more than $240,000 raised from the fundraiser will go toward fulfilling the nonprofit organization’s goal to “raise awareness, fund research and offer support” to families with children diagnosed with Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA).
Meredith and Patrick Woodruff established the foundation after their son, Miller, was diagnosed with SMA and died at the age of 87 days in 2011. SMA, the No. 1 genetic killer of children younger than 2, destroys the nerves controlling voluntary muscle movement.
The nonprofit foundation has raised more than $1 million in the past five years and has helped support Cure SMA, the Arkansas Children’s Hospital, Circle of Life Hospice, Mamie’s Poppy Plates, The Amazeum, Ronald McDonald House Charities and families affected by SMA.
Those saying, “I’m with Miller,” the foundation’s slogan, were Peggy and Buddy Jordan, Rhonda and Jim Woodruff, Sarah Gilmer, Dana and Jason Luper, Kristin and Shannon Richmond, Crystal and Josh Turner, and Kelly and Jason Alexander.
Ozark Literacy Council administrators and board members hosted an open house April 6 in Fayetteville to mark 53 years of serving Washington County.
Some 120 volunteers work with more than 500 students annually to offer tutoring and classes in language, civic, financial, health and workforce literacy.
The group launched a new outreach program in the last year that offers English as a second language classes in Marshallese
and Spanish on-site to interested employees at the Tyson Foods cornish plant on Randall Wobbe Road in Springdale. Jim Mitchell, center development director, tells me the group expects to add a site in Rogers in the near future.
Those gathering at the Ozark Literacy Council in Fayetteville included Bill Mitchell, Andrea Hall, Carlos Giraldo, Chung Tan, Sam Marshall, Cody Black, Paul Trainer, Mina Phebus, Amber Hicks, Pattie and David Williams, Dean Redford, Chris Balos, April Brow, Margaret and Dick Rutherford, Claudia Bailey, Tyler Clark and Margot Lemaster.
For more event photos — nwadg.com/photos/society.