Correction: Eggshibition 2013, a fundraiser for Youth Home, is at 7 p.m. April 5, at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock’s Jack Stephens Center. The date was incorrect in this article.
This year there will be no egg puns or “egg”-y themes. No “Evolution of the Egg” or “Eggstreme Makeover” for Youth Home. Not this year. Event chairman Roberta Clark says this year they wanted to do things a bit differently. “We are concentrating on the children.”
Perhaps organizers couldn’t think of anything egg-citing or egg-straordinary?
“We would like for people to know about Youth Home,” and while Eggshibition is a fun pun, it just happens to be “one of our biggest ways to showcase Youth Home’s mission and vision.”
Funds raised support the home, which is a private nonprofit treatment center for emotionally troubled children and their families. Founded in 1966, the center provides care for more than 1,600 youth and their families every year. The facility on Colonel Glenn Road in Little Rock is an inpatient facility.
Clark explains that the youth go to school at Youth Home as well as get counseling from a clinical psychologist. Once it is deemed the children no longer need the organization’s services, the staff helps with the transition.
“They receive all the types of care that they need to get them back into the mainstream, whether that’s with their family, foster care or when they turn 18,” Clark says.
The center also has an outpatient treatment center on Markham Street. Clark explains that it is geared toward family counseling and helps the family deal with the patient’s issues.
Clark is vice president of the Youth Home’s board of directors and will soon serve as its president. She became a board member when a friend from graduate school, James Bobo, himself a former board president, invited her to visit Youth Home.
“He brought me out here. He thought this would be a good civic project for me to be involved with, and I was just blown away by what Youth Home does for their patients,” Clark says.
It wouldn’t be Eggshibition, however, without eggs. And there will be eggs, lots of eggs, and egg-theme art created by local artists and celebrities. Get there on time, because it’s over easy. (Please don’t punish us for our play on words.)
This year one of the featured eggs is signed and designed by singer Dave Matthews. “He was here performing [in Little Rock] and we were able to get him to sign one and he, of course, added his own design to it,” Clark says.
Last year, Eggshibition raised $130,000. This year the organization is hoping the event April 6 at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock’s Jack Stephens Center will clear $140,000. With their $50 or $75 ticket, party goers will be able to bid on artful eggs and gift baskets. There will also be a live auction that includes a trip for five couples to a home in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, replete with a chef and housekeeping.
In addition to the live and silent auctions, Clark says, “there will also be music by Rodney Block and tons of food by Ben E. Keith. We are so grateful for the partnership with them. Glazer’s will provide the libations.”
Posters featuring the children Youth Home along with videos about the home will be featured throughout the venue. Hosts Christina Munoz and David Bazzel will talk about the home’s mission and vision during the evening.
“We have a good group of people that volunteer every year,” Clark says. She says they recruit friends and family and assist in setting up, monitoring eggs, auctions, and checking out.
She has also recruited her children, Chasity McNary and David and Constance Clark, all teachers in the Little Rock School District, to help.
Clark teaches business at Arkansas Baptist College and part time at John Brown University in Siloam Springs, so she’s especially enthusiastic that there is a school at Youth Home. She says that Youth Home’s smaller classrooms and specialized care provide an education that the children probably wouldn’t get at a public school.
“Because I am a single mother and I’ve raised my children, I know how difficult it is to raise a family and try to make sure they are getting a good education and have a well-balanced life. … Every child is not afforded that type of atmosphere to grow up in. So when I came out here and saw and heard some of the stories, it compelled me to be thankful that I was able to give my children and my grandchildren a home where they grew up and didn’t have to experience the things that some of these children have.”
Patron tickets ($75) include a
pre-event cocktail hour with artists and sponsors. General ad
mission is $50. More information
about Youth Home, Eggshibition
and tickets may be found online
High Profile, Pages 35 on 03/24/2013