Giving, Then And Now

It always starts with a theme.

This year, it's "A Rogers Christmas." But it could just as easily have been titled "A Tradition of Giving."

"That's a huge part of what we talk about this year," says Terrilyn Wendling, assistant director of the Rogers Historical Museum. Tours of the 1895 Hawkins House will look at how those in turn-of-the-20th-century Rogers celebrated the season by giving to those less fortunate, and Sunday's 16th annual Holiday Open House will encourage giving in 2015 through a partnership with the Northwest Arkansas Food Bank.

Founded in 1988, the Northwest Arkansas Food Bank served 761,168 clients in Benton, Carroll, Madison and Washington counties in 2014, providing 7.2 million pounds of food, and it is anticipated it will distribute 8.2 million pounds this year, says spokesman Robert Gearhart. The numbers for food insecurity -- which he defines as "not knowing where your next meal will come from" -- are higher in Northwest Arkansas than the national average: One in four here versus one in six nationally.

Most welcome, Gearhart says, are "anything that is hearty and shelf stable" -- canned foods, boxed meals, rice, beans, peanut butter -- particularly foods that don't require heating. More than a few clients do not have access to a stove, microwave or even a hot plate.

The food bank also distributes toiletries, he adds.

"If you cannot afford a can of soup, you can't afford toothpaste, paper towels, diapers," he says. Feminine hygiene products are also helpful.

"We have a constant uphill battle informing the community of the need," Gearhart says. "Everybody thinks Northwest Arkansas is the land of milk and honey."

Back at the turn of the century, in the kitchen of the Hawkins House, the family is preparing food to be boxed as gifts, Wendling says.

"Holiday charity in early Rogers begins with the collecting of food and clothing at the annual union Thanksgiving service and continues through Christmas," Wendling writes in the script for docents. "In 1897 the Rogers Democrat expressed the hope that 'our citizens can and will see that no worthy family is allowed to suffer seriously in this city.'"

The theme continues with clothing and canned goods assembled to donate to the Salvation Army, which opened in Rogers in 1903.

In the front parlor, Mrs. Hawkins has left her needlework out. She belongs to the Ladies Aid Society at her local church and is working on some needlework and craft projects that she is making for the bazaar the society will hold soon.

And even in the bedroom, plans are being made to attend the annual Firemen's Ball at the Opera House, a way to raise money for the volunteer fire department.

"The ladies often attend in their best clothes with fancy masks, but the gentlemen prefer to wear full costumes. They dress as a variety of characters like clowns or Uncle Sam," Wendling writes. "Mr. Hawkins hopes to win the costume contest as a "Wild West" cowboy with boots, vest and hat."

NAN What's Up on 11/27/2015