Maddye Plascensia arrived at the photo shoot Manhattan-sensible -- a Liz Lemon-inspired shirt-sweater combo and calf-high black leather boots. In a place like Easter Seals that emphasizes what's "inside," Maddye's aware the world outside says something else entirely. Looks matter, and Maddye has hedged her bets.
The girl wasn't always bound to a motorized chair, developing her thoughts and requests on an iPad and remastering the coordination to eat her own food. Before the car wreck six years ago she was in an elementary school classroom.
Painting her nails?
No, but she wasn't a 'tween then, either.
Now, every few days, the folks at Easter Seals Arkansas change her nail polish. This night, in fact, after posing for a professional photographer, she's scheduled for a fresh coat of the good stuff.
On Friday it will begin anew -- the cameras, the poses, the smiling people. The ninth Fashion Event for Easter Seals kicks off at 6 p.m. at the Little Rock Marriott downtown.
Zoolander 2 meet Maddye, 12.
The chairman of the event is Jacquelyn Harrison, whose own first Fashion Event came just three years ago. She and husband Brian had moved back to Little Rock, her hometown, when she joined Munson, Rowlett, Moore & Boone, P.A. as an associate. Rachel Harding chaired the event that year and invited the couple. "Truly it was one of those unexpected circumstances you're kind of forever changed by," she says. "I knew I had to get involved after that."
The following year Brian persuaded his employer, Wal-Mart, to buy into the fundraiser. The company signed on for a table (a common "give" for companies, though certainly not a given). Last year, the company bought a presenting sponsorship -- this is not typical. This year, Wal-Mart will be one of the fashion lines modeled on the runway.
Wal-Mart.
"The home office apparel team's ... put a lot of time into it, been sending us pictures" of ensembles to get enthusiastic about, she says.
Easter Seals serves children and adults with disabilities and encourages them to set big goals and meet them. Much of the strategy (services) involves curriculum and physical therapy, but some of what they do is procure and distribute special technological aids like the iPad Maddye uses. Independence is the name of the game at Easter Seals.
This should appeal to Brian, whose job as strategy director for the global retailer involves "gamification reporting" -- that is, encouraging employees to adopt best practices through game theory. (And what's that? Applying simple game cues, like points or progression to a higher level. Think of exercise programs that use stars, or diet programs with color-coded cards that get moved throughout the day.)
Mac Bell, the nonprofit's development director, says many of its constituents can't wear boutique ensembles because boutiques here simply don't carry kids' lines. "Wal-Mart getting involved, that was a big deal," and not just because they're a generous sponsor, but "we needed a kids' clothing store!"
Last year, the fashion show and party set a fundraising record, about $115,000. Organizers hope to exceed that, and along with Wal-Mart they've enlisted the help of Barbara/Jean, Bauman's, Beehive, Beyond Cotton II, Culture Clothing, Dillard's, E.Leigh's, Forsythes/Kristin Todd, Greenhaw's, Indigo, Roberson's Fine Jewelry, Scarlet Boutique, SteamRoller Blues, and Vesta's.
The models come from various Easter Seals programs -- the developmental preschool, the Children's Rehabilitation Center (Maddye), adult training and wellness, job placement and independent living.
At the Children's Rehabilitation Center, eligibility depends on clients' improvement, says Shana Fryar, the social services coordinator. It's a rehabilitation center with intensive therapy; the goals Maddye shares with the roughly 40 others there are meaningful.
"Because we are considered a restrictive environment" -- clients are not free to leave at any time -- "when you place a child here, they have to be able to prove to us that ... we can help them better themselves or move farther and make progress.
"If at any point they start plateauing or they start regressing, then we actually recommend discharging back home or discharging to another facility, because we wouldn't want to keep anybody in a restrictive environment if we weren't actually doing something to help them."
Jacquelyn was born and raised in the capital city and graduated from Central High School more than 10 years ago. She went to the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville and received her bachelor's in political science and her law degree.
Brian grew up largely in Eureka Springs, but earlier, his parents -- "genu-wine hippies, living off the land," Jacquelyn says -- were parked way out in the woods on the banks of the Little Red River near Marshall, and every day for a year, he canoed across the river, walked a trail to the neighbor's house, walked another half-mile down the road and hopped a bus to a school in a different town.
He was 6.
"When it was nice out, I'd swim home," he says
"I can't make this up, folks," Jacquelyn says. "We could not have come from two more different worlds."
Different worlds, coming together, each making the other better, happier even -- are we still talking about the Harrisons?
Proceeds from The Fashion Event help Easter Seals provide services to children and adults with disabilities. Tickets start at $50 general admission and top out at $1,000 for VIP table sponsors. Visit easterseals.com/arkansas. For more information, call Kathyrn Norton at (501) 227-3706.
High Profile on 02/21/2016