FAIRFIELD BAY — Jackie and Sean Sikes have helped feed low-income senior citizens from places as varied as Clinton and Paris, France, and the couple are not stopping.
Jackie Sikes, executive director of the Fairfield Bay Chamber of Commerce, and her husband operate the nonprofit Dirty Farmers Community Market, which they started in Clinton. They moved to Fairfield Bay in August. She has since added another title, economic development director for the chamber.
The couple’s nonprofit operates Seed for Seniors, which provides 50 senior citizens in Clinton fresh produce twice a month during the growing season, and Your Daily Bread, which gives fresh bread, jams and jellies to seniors.
“It’s just a little passion of ours,” Sean Sikes said.
Jackie, 59, and Sean, 50, previously operated an indoor farmers market with the Greater Good Cafe, where people paid what they could. Jackie did most of the cooking, while Sean harvested food from a community garden on land owned by the United Methodist Church in Clinton. He grew the food and gave half to people at the church.
“I was the dirty farmer,” he said, laughing.
The Sikeses closed the cafe three years ago when a friend who lived out of state donated 120 acres to them. The couple grew produce in 14 raised beds and had 14 fruit trees that they harvested to give food to the seniors.
Jackie said the couple lived in a cabin on the property and rented a smaller cabin there as an Airbnb to help fund their programs.
“I can’t believe how many people we had come through there,” she said of the Clinton cabin. “We helped them start similar [food] programs in their home state. A couple from Paris, France [who stayed in the Airbnb] went home and started a program in their city for seniors. It was pretty exciting; it touched a lot of people,” she said.
Jackie got her chamber job in March. “It was right down my alley,” she said.
The Sikeses moved to Fairfield Bay in August, and their friend has since moved back to the property in Clinton. Sean said the couple now buy their produce from farmer Sheldon Sturdivant of Scotland, Arkansas, who gives them the food at a discount.
Jackie and a friend bake 50 loaves of bread every two weeks to give to the 40-plus seniors at Lefler Estates in Clinton, low-income housing for seniors, as well as six seniors through the White River Area Agency on Aging.
Jackie and her volunteers also host bingo twice a month on Monday nights at the apartments.
“We realized it wasn’t just the nutritional needs we were trying to meet; we were trying to meet the emotional needs [of senior citizens],” she said.
Sean agreed.
“Through trying to provide the food for the seniors, we found out, … regardless of their income levels, that many of them are lonely. They’ll say, ‘My husband just died’; ‘My wife just died a few months ago,’” he said.
Marie Rowe, 92, who lives in Lefler Estates, can’t say enough good things about the people and the programs.
She gets food from the nonprofit and participates in bingo.
“They come out here to help us at Lefler Estates, and they’re wonderful people. I can say that before anything else,” she said. “They bring yeast rolls, and let me tell you, they’re the best ones in Van Buren County. And they bring fresh vegetables and fruit during the season.”
Rowe, whose husband, Ted, is in a nursing home, said the food helps stretch her limited income.
“The food helps us; you bet it helps us out,” she said.
“On the bingo, the gifts they give us for winning are not little dinky things. They are wonderful things we can use in our household, and it’s just marvelous,” Rowe said.
Those prizes include prepackaged food, sweets and popcorn, as well as useful household supplies, she said.
“Jackie and her crew are the ones who serve us, and I tell you, they make our day when they come out,” Rowe said. “They just make us feel so good.”
In addition to Jackie Sikes, volunteers are Gator and Judy Helton, Darlene Ward and Jim Adams.
Marie Willoughby, 79, is a widow who lives in Lefler Estates and plays bingo.
“Everybody likes it, and they brag on it pretty good,” she said. “We enjoy it and have fun.”
Jackie said the nonprofit has one big fundraiser a year. Sean said that for a few years, the couple put on a Dirty Bowl football game in Clinton, which involved teams made up of the firefighters, city leaders and other community members. That ran its course, though, he said.
On Nov. 24, the nonprofit held a Dirty Bowl Chili Supper at the Fairfield Bay Chamber of Commerce, and the place was hopping, Sean said.
“It went great,” he said, adding that customers were asked to “eat what you need; pay what can.” The supper raised about $350. Anyone who would like to donate to the nonprofit can go to the Dirty Farmers Community Market Facebook page, he said.
Jackie has her sights set on expanding the senior programs into Fairfield Bay, where there is a community garden.
“It’s getting bigger, and we’re going to reach more people,” she said. “We’re trying to expand the program this year with the community-garden folks to help feed seniors, and as we like to say, ‘Share your abundance.’
“We’ve got to get some more farmers to help us, and I need to do a really big fundraiser.”
Jackie said Indian Rock Village, a nursing home and assisted-living facility, is interested in participating. The village houses about 80 senior citizens, she said.
Rowe said the work the Sikeses and volunteers do boils down to this: “They pep us up. They love us, and we love them. What else could you ask for?”
Senior writer Tammy Keith can be reached at (501) 327-5671 or tkeith@arkansasonline.com.