People and places

HAYES AWARDED FELLOWSHIP

Karen Hayes has been awarded the Aging Mind Fellowship by The Writers’ Colony at Dairy Hollow in Eureka Springs. She is a writer and a performance poet who reads her work at bars and libraries, coffee shops and trolley stops. She is the sole employee of Dogtown Poetry on Demand and travels to art walks, street fairs and festivals with her 1971 Olivetti manual typewriter. She brought people to tears with her personalized poetry at the Writers’ Colony Poetry on Demand tent at the White Street Walk in 2017, and continues practicing her magic around Arkansas.

In August 2018, she became the director of Alzheimer’s Poetry Project-Arkansas and Poetry for Life. Helping people living with Alzheimer’s and related dementia is her passion. She works with the Central Arkansas Veterans system, the Arkansas Arts Council and Alzheimer’s Arkansas.

She is also a workshop leader and speaker, a runner and a caregiver.

Hayes lost her husband to Alzheimer’s and will spend two weeks at the Writers’ Colony working on an Alzheimer’s memoir that includes poetry. She was chosen from 19 entries for the Aging Mind Fellowship, awarded to a writer working on a project about Alzheimer’s, dementia or the effects of aging on the brain.

UNITED WAY ANNOUNCES NEW BOARD MEMBERS

In its October board meeting, the United Way of Northwest Arkansas voted in two new board members, Dr. Kim Needy and Helena Gadison.

Needy is dean of the graduate school and international education at the University of Arkansas. Prior to her academic appointment, she gained industrial experience while working at PPG Industries and The Boeing Company.

Gadison is vice president of sales and marketing for International Intimates. She has extensive expertise in the retail sector including 18 years with Walmart. She is an innovator quickly up to speed in new or unfamiliar categories and even industries, increasing market share and identifying/ tapping new opportunities for growth.

Both Needy and Gadison have worked with the UWNWA in the past. Needy served on the Resource Development Committee and served as campaign chair for the University of Arkansas. Gadison currently sits on the Resource Development Committee, where she created the concept for this year’s Campaign Tip-Off.

Courtesy photo Five generations of family, Mary Lee Ingram Ellenbarger (from left), Carolyn Ellenbarger, Candy Martin and Kiana Gaither holding her infant daughter, Amara Gaither, who is Mary’s great-great-great-granddaughter, gathered at Knob Hill.