Conway woman receives service award

CONWAY — Jamie Boyd of Conway, who has served on the Women’s Shelter Board of Central Arkansas for 10 years, is doubly appreciated.

Boyd recently received the Roger Lewis Service Award for the second time for her continued dedication to the shelter in Conway.

“She’s done a great job,” Roger Lewis said. “She was on the board before I left. … She’s really done a good job.”

Boyd, damage-prevention manager at Arkansas Utilities Production Services, said she received the award in 2007 and 2014. She said a friend and former co-worker, Leigh Walls, was on the shelter board and asked her to join.

“She asked me if I would be interested in it and shared a lot of things that were going on and activities. I decided it was a great organization for a great cause, and they needed the money and needed all the fundraising we could actually produce.”

Within a few months of being named to the board, Boyd said, she was chairing The Great Escape, the shelter’s biggest annual fundraiser. The event includes shopping and spa services, as well as entertainment.

“I was afraid at first, but I loved it,” Boyd said. “We were able to really bring forth some money. It’s been a love and a passion to do it. It’s always going to be a passion of mine just to help and assist the shelter and see how they can continue to thrive.”

Beth Goodrich, executive director of the Women’s Shelter of Central Arkansas, said the Roger Lewis Service Award isn’t given automatically. “It’s not necessarily given every year; it’s been a couple of years,” Goodrich said. “The board votes to give it to someone who just really goes above and beyond, and she’s certainly done that.”

Goodrich said Boyd has served more than one term as president. “She was a good president; she was reliable, and she got stuff done,” Goodrich said.

“She’s worked on The Great Escape ever since she started and put in a lot of extra time,” Goodrich said. “The board just wanted to recognize her. It’s her last year on the board, December 2014, so it was a good time to show her how much they appreciate all the things she has done.”

Boyd said the award means a lot to her. “It’s an honor. It means the dedication, the hard work, the commitment, basically, of just trying to make this a well-known event, just trying to make sure the shelter, their information is put out there, [is worth it], because it used to just be taboo — just letting people know what we do, why we do it and keep asking for funding.”

Lewis, retired director of institutional research at the University of Central Arkansas, is a founding member and president of the women’s shelter board, which started in 1995. He and Ann Davis, who is Walls’ mother, were the primary founders. An award was established in Davis’ honor, too.

Lewis said he served “nine or 10 years.” He said the award was established in his honor when Gabe Esteban, formerly of Conway, was president of the shelter’s board.

For more information on the shelter, go to www.conwaywomensshelter.com, or call (501) 358-6219 or the crisis hotline at (866) 358-2265.

Senior writer Tammy Keith can be reached at (501) 327-0370 or tkeith@arkansasonline.com.

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