Volunteer of the Year

Dennis Berry

At the start of his professional career, Dennis Berry spent five years policing with the North Little Rock Police Department protecting families’ hard assets. He later moved to the wealth management arena and began protecting his clients’ financial assets.

“After working for large, New York-based wealth management firms between their Little Rock and Shreveport offices, my wife of 23 years, Natalie, and I, along with our kids, Chase and Juliana, moved back to Arkansas in the summer of 2015 and chose to call Hot Springs home.

Patricia Nooner

Patricia Nooner has lived in Hot Springs her entire adult life where she has raised her children, Eric, Jacob and Skyler. She is a proud grandma to her 5-year-old grandson, Onyx.

“Patricia created the Saturday feeding program for the homeless. She started the warming shelter at Lakeview Assembly of God and later it expanded farther into the city to include First United Methodist Church. She created a nonprofit, Full Circle Missions, and her team provides Christmas dinner to include gifts and resources to the homeless community. They also sponsor an Easter meal and egg hunt for our homeless community and under resourced families. She works with St. Luke’s homeless ministries as well. She serves the homeless daily providing them with clothes, food, tents, sleeping bags, blankets, resource referrals and so much more.”

Brad Burleson

Brad Burleson, an eighth-generation Arkansan, spent his early years in Pine Bluff before moving to Fordyce, where he graduated high school.

“During his youth, Brad learned from his parents the importance of volunteering — his father, Bill, a retired pitcher for the Chicago Cubs, volunteered as a coach for American Legion and Babe Ruth baseball teams. His mother, Monica, led the Volunteers in Public Schools program.

“After high school, Brad attended the University of Arkansas at Little Rock where he was granted the Chancellor’s Leadership Corps Scholarship, an award given to outstanding teenage community leaders. Brad lived in Little Rock for 18 years before moving to Hot Springs in 2014.”

Edgardo Argueta

Edgardo “Ed” Argueta was born in La Lima, Honduras, and lived there until the age of 5. Political struggle and rising crime led his family to move to the United States in pursuit of the American Dream. In 1994, Argueta and his family made their way to Arkansas by way of Miami to join extended family. He struggled in school initially and spent his formative years at Lakeside Primary School coming to understand the profound impact that local community service programs can have on a family with very little. He graduated from Lakeside High School in 2007 and immediately joined the United States Marine Corps. He served until May 2013 and was deployed in Ramadi, Iraq, from December 2008 to September 2009. He finished his military service as an E-5 sergeant.

“The leadership skills he learned as a sergeant and through his service on the front lines in Iraq impact his personal and career experiences. During his military service, Ed completed an Associate of Science in Teaching at National Park College and a Bachelor of Arts in Teaching Middle School Langauge Arts, Math Science, and Social Science at Henderson State University. While attending college, he also worked at Summit Bank in Arkadelphia. Ed served as the Logistics Chair for Clark County Relay for life from 2011-2015 before moving back to Hot Springs in 2016.”

Stephanie Tucker

Stephanie Tucker moved to Hot Springs in 2015 with her husband and two children. Although she is originally from Ferndale, she grew up visiting Lake Hamilton as a little girl and fell in love with this area. She and her husband, JJ, met at the University of Arkansas and their careers took them all over before returning to his hometown of Hot Springs.

“As soon as they moved back to Hot Springs, Stephanie became immediately aware of some of the needs in our community. Having worked full time for Pfizer Pharmaceuticals as a team manager, she effortlessly formed relationships with local organizers and became familiar with all their plans for Hot Springs. She knew that she could use her strengths in leadership and management and help these organizations accomplish their goals. As always, and without hesitation, she jumped right in and did just that. In fact, she has been appointed as the Pfizer Grass Roots Leader for the entire state of Arkansas and champions volunteerism with community outreach coordination for 60plus team members.”

Debbie McGrew

Debbie McGrew is CFO of McGrew Companies and an Arkansan by choice. She is the wife to the love of her life for 33 years. Richard and Debbie have raised three children and now enjoy three grandchildren. They worship and serve at Hot Springs Baptist Church.

McGrew is a member of Garland County Republican Women, where she serves as Chaplin. She is co-founder of an organization called Families in Addiction, a faith-based support group for families who have a loved one in addiction.

She was appointed by Gov. Asa Hutchinson in 2019 to fill the remainder of her husband’s term on the Garland County Quorum Court as Justice of the Peace. She continues to serve the community as the new Justice of the Peace elect for District 10.

Kay Ekey

Kay Ekey is a Kansas native who moved to Arkansas about 50 years ago to attend college and stayed. “I earned a Bachelor of Arts in Physical Education at Lyon College where I served as a resident assistant. I was selected as the first graduate assistant for women’s athletics at the University of Central Arkansas. There, I completed a Master of Science in Education in the field of Special Education while serving as head track coach and assistant coach for volleyball and swimming. In 2000, I completed graduate certification in Educational Leadership at Henderson State University.”

“I retired early from education so I could become a full-time volunteer and have never regretted it. That freedom of schedule has also allowed me to serve as a Garland County Election Commissioner since the fall of 2020. That is keeping me very busy training poll workers, doing accuracy testing on each of the machines prior to every election, securing poll locations, proofreading ballots, canvassing absentee ballots, making determinations on provisional ballot that have been cast, and lots of other behind the scenes tasks. But I find it all very rewarding.”

DeaAnn Richard

A Nashville, Arkansas, native who spent her early years gallivanting the U.S. and the world cleverly incorporating work and play, DeaAnn Richard landed in Hot Springs in 2007 married to her college sweetheart, former Razorback Mike Ihrie. Together they have reared his children, Cain and Carly. Recently, they have added a 10-year-old granddaughter, Chandler, to their tribe. DeaAnn is affectionately known by most of Hot Springs and south Arkansas as Aunt D.

“Cain, my bonus son, is a twotime brain cancer survivor. He has some physical and mental limitations. He sees the world very black and white. He will always live with my husband and I. Cain has a charismatic personality with a huge, caring heart. He strives to do his best every day. He inspires me and all those around him to do our best. When life gets crazy, his simplistic attitude is just what I need to recharged and refocused.

Audrey White

Audrey White was born and raised in Las Vegas. Throughout her younger years, she has worked in the Entertainment/ Hospitality industry in promotions, hosting, team management, event coordinating, then went behind the scenes and became a gaming auditor for several local casinos. In 2015, she became a Realtor. Three years ago, she relocated to Hot Springs. She is a single mom with her three handsome sons, Andrew, JJ and Colton. She has continued her Real Estate career here in Hot Springs with McGraw Realtors.

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