Arvest donates another $10,000

The Arvest Bank Foundation has made a second $10,000 donation to another COVID-19 community relief cause, the Hot Springs Area Community Foundation, for its #SupportSpaCity campaign, which provides grocery cards to families financially impacted by the pandemic.

“This pandemic has served as just one more reminder of why we have organizations like the Hot Springs Area Community Foundation,” Franklin Bass, community bank president for Arvest Bank in Hot Springs, said in a news release.

“This donation is a source

of relief going directly into the pockets of community members who need support right now, which is exactly what we need in this time of uncertainty.”

The #SupportSpaCity campaign also assists local businesses by doling out grocery cards that match the dollar amount of local business gift cards purchased through the campaign.

“We are thrilled beyond measure to receive (the foundation’s) generous contribution, and thank them sincerely for their involvement in our community and their assistance for our displaced employees in the community,” HSACF Executive Director Joyce Whitfield said.

Whitfield said the fund has received over $42,000, and more donations are expected to come in.

“Until all the available funds have been exhausted, we’ll continue to grant grocery cards, so we’re still taking applications online for the grocery cards,” she said.

There has been about $30,000 in grocery cards donated so far, Whitfield said, helping about 260 households and leaving about $12,000 as of now left to donate.

“It’s still important (to donate) because a lot of these people still haven’t received their unemployment checks, and people haven’t been put back to work, so we still have a lot of need; a lot of people who are short on income, have lost a lot of income,” she said.

Other donations the fund has received, she said, include an anonymous $10,000 donation, a $3,000 donation from The Walmart Foundation and a $500 donation from Little Rock artist Bob Snider.

Last week, the Arvest Bank Foundation donated $10,000 to United Way of the Ouachitas to help it provide food, shelter and meet some medical needs of people who lost their jobs as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.