Emily Boyd’s office on the second floor of the Kernodle and Katon Asset Management Group’s building gives her a bird’s-eye view of the city she has called home for the past 10 years. At the corner of Main Street and Beebe Capps Expressway in Searcy, Boyd said she can often be found gazing out the window with her feet up on her desk while planning her next move as marketing director for the company or as president of the Searcy Junior Auxiliary.
Junior Auxiliary is a women’s group that emphasizes service within local communities, especially service pertaining to children. The chapter in Searcy focuses on projects that benefit the children of White County, such as the Angel Tree program, the Sunshine School and A Day of Caring. Through Junior Auxiliary, Boyd said, she has an opportunity to pour her heart into the community through service. Boyd is wrapping up her fourth year in the organization and is currently the chapter’s president.
Boyd’s family moved around when she was young, but she considers herself a “Jonesboro girl,” having lived in the city for a portion of her childhood, then attending Arkansas State University. It was while she was in high school that she first heard about Junior Auxiliary.
“I was a high school student in Jonesboro, where they had a strong chapter,” she said. “They were the volunteers who came for reading programs, and they were there at all the big events. They’re a very well-known group of civic-minded ladies in the town. It’s one of those groups that you strive to be a member of.”
At Arkansas State University, Boyd double-majored in marketing and management. Originally, she said, she always pictured herself owning her own flower shop, but after the time it took for the Boyds to conceive their daughter, Savannah, through in vitro fertilization, Boyd decided to find a job that would give her the flexibility to spend plenty of quality time with her family.
Boyd’s husband’s job as president of Simmons Bank brought the family to Searcy, and Boyd said the job at Kernodle and Katon fell into her lap as a perfect fit for what she wanted, both professionally and personally.
“I wasn’t looking for this position; it came looking for me,” she said. “They grant me a lot of time with Savannah and my family. It’s one of those jobs for a creative and free thinker. No two days are the same. We all have civic groups that we like to be a part of, and JA for me has been a way to have a face in the community, as well as professionally.”
When Boyd was at Arkansas State University, she was a member of Alpha Gamma Delta sorority. After graduation, marriage and a move to Searcy, she said she experienced the same kind of excitement when she was asked to be a part of Junior Auxiliary.
“I had been here for a while and worked professionally,” she said. “Several of my friends and I had always wondered about JA. When one of my very dear friends, Audra, and I got our invitations in the same year, it felt like Bid Day all over again. To be involved in that group of ladies was exciting, but I don’t think I had any understanding of what all they did and how I would be blessed by being able to work with other people.”
Boyd said many JA members — including her — have noticed that they entered Junior Auxiliary right at a point in their lives when they needed additional support. For Boyd, her first year in the organization was the year she and her husband were trying to conceive.
“The year I was a provisional member was the hard year that we went through round after round of in vitro,” she said. “It just so happened that year that Sara Dacus had just stepped in as a provisional trainer, and Ejaye McFarland was still involved in the chapter. The two of them knew my doctor and knew the process, and they could look at a calendar and know what day I was on my medication, and they were there for me. These were women I didn’t know very well at the time, but I knew of them. JA is a way to offer support and meet some of my very best friends that even when I’m long done with my years of service, they will be there. Our children will grow up together.”
The first year of membership in Junior Auxiliary is called the provisional year, when new members learn about the local chapter and the national organization. There are special projects for provisional members, and Boyd said that when her term as president is over, she will be more directly involved in helping provisional members.
“Next year I’ll serve as ex officio,” she said. “In our chapter, the ex-officio job is to train the new incoming provisionals. I’m really looking forward to that in my last year. I think having four years under my belt, serving on different committees and on the board, I think I have a lot to impart and teach and inspire for the next round of members who will be spending the next few years giving their time to JA.”
Junior Auxiliary of Searcy currently has 38 active and provisional members. Each member serves 5 1/2 years; then they will be granted either a life or associate status, based upon how involved they were when they were active. Boyd said the Searcy chapter is one of the older chapters in the nation and has 170 women with active, life or associate status.
“There’s almost a legacy and sisterhood where you come back to support for years and years,” Boyd said.
For Boyd, that legacy seems to have made its way into her home. Her 3-year-old daughter calls herself a “JA helper,” and she asks her mother about ways to help others with JA projects.
“It’s been months since she helped me with food baskets, but if we go to the grocery store, she’ll say, ‘Mommy, are there kids who don’t have food in their bellies? Should we shop for them, too?’” Boyd said. “When she opened up birthday presents, she got a few extra — her birthday’s in January — and she said, ‘Mommy, can I save these for Christmas for kids who need it?’ She’s 3 years old, and she gets it.”
In the 2013-2014 fiscal JA year, Junior Auxiliary of Searcy members served a total of 2,000 hours throughout the community. Members must be at least 21 years old and must have been a resident of White, Cleburne or Woodruff County for at least one year.
More information about the local Searcy chapter can be found at the “Junior Auxiliary of Searcy, Arkansas” Facebook page, and information about the national organization can be found at www.najanet.org.
The Searcy chapter accepts applications in the summertime and extends invitations to new provisionals in August.
Staff writer Angela Spencer can be reached at (501) 244-4307 or aspencer@arkansasonline.com.