Some people use Facebook solely to argue politics and religion. (Poor souls.) That would seem to get old quick. Especially for those who don't have a sense of humor that they're aware of.
Thankfully, some folks in northwest Arkansas have found a way to use Facebook to their advantage--or at least to the advantage of some kids who might need help. You might remember the "Fight at the Water Tower" from last year.
For those unfamiliar, anonymous (silly) folk started up fake Facebook pages like The City of Bentonville and The City of Fayetteville a while back--mainly to make jokes about the locals and poke fun at surrounding towns. It wasn't long before the joke spread. And now there are fake pages for all sorts of towns from Little Rock to Fort Smith to Farmington.
It's easy to see a particularly strong rivalry between the Bentonville and Rogers pages, as there is between Bentonville and Rogers in every other aspect of life. After a few rounds of likes, shares and "tag friends," those chatting on these pages vowed to meet at the Bentonville water tower last year for a "fight."
It turned into a friendly competition to see which town could bring in the most donations for charity. And last week, they held the second Fight at the Water Tower. Are you ready to rumble?
The event was held at the relatively new 8th Street Market in Bentonville, a hip little hangout with restaurants, food trucks, shops, a culinary school and more. Donations like canned goods and school supplies were accepted, with some proceeds from businesses in the market going to Children's Advocacy Center of Benton County. Food and school supplies went to the Samaritan Community Center.
On the event page, about 500 people said they'd come to the event, with another 2,400 saying they were interested in it. We drove to Bentonville, grabbed a sandwich and waited around to see what'd happen.
Last Friday was a hot first day of summer, with temperatures in the 90s and heat indexes close to 100 degrees. The event started by accepting donations around noon, with plans to keep taking them until 8 p.m. Some sort of party was supposed to kick off at 5 p.m. with music and more food, maybe some games.
The temperatures might have kept large crowds away because there weren't more than 50 people there for the several hours we haunted the place. The last Fight at the Water Tower took place in December and had a larger crowd with hundreds of people. It's understandable this event probably would see more people when the weather's better.
In late June/early July, in Arkansas, the weather's not better.
A white tent was set up for donations in the front parking lot. It was pretty hard to miss. The tent and four guys working under it sat next to a truck with a large boombox painted on the outside.
We strolled over to the tent to see how things were going. The four guys trying to stay in the shade (understandably so) were eating lunch in between accepting donations, and it looked like the truck was about a quarter full at the time. We figured that collection would grow as the party got going.
To keep the spirit of competition alive, volunteers had a banner under the tent with Team Rogers and Team Bentonville on it. (The Rogers side may have said "Royers," as that's come to be a nickname among these Facebook pages.) With each person that came up to donate, volunteers would ask what city they wanted to represent. Talk about competition. These folks were seriously keeping tally! Once people donated, they were given a swag bag with some goodies for their efforts.
We asked if the person running the City of Bentonville fake Facebook page was in attendance, but we were quickly told that individual prefers to remain anonymous. It's understandable. He or she posts a lot of funny stuff, but he or she also rubs a few people the wrong way.
One of the volunteers was quickly offered up to us inky wretches as an interview sacrifice because he was the best public speaker, according to his coworkers.
The "volunteered" was Jeff Church, and he said he ran one of those glass and vape shops in Fayetteville. One might wonder how a vape shop gets involved in a food-and-school-supplies charity, but apparently Mr. Church saw these fake city Facebook pages talking trash and joking with each other online--and decided to get involved in their next Fight at the Water Tower event.
Mr. Church hinted he might have been voluntold to appear and collect donations since the vape shop was a sponsor for the event. But he laughed and said everyone was in good cheer: "It's for a good cause. Nobody has actually complained about being out here."
And it turns out the charity event means something more to Mr. Church because of how he grew up--in Springdale with kids that didn't get a meal every day. Mr. Church also told us he believes all children deserve a good education and hoped the school supplies being donated would help accomplish that.
"I hope this amounts to helping those kids out," he said. "I hate to see anyone go hungry."
Outside the store he manages, homeless people often beg next to the Interstate 49 exit in Fayetteville. He said he helps where he can, but hopes events like this can change things for the better. Ultimately, Jeff Church said he'd like to see homelessness ended.
So would we. Grand hopes from a charity event designed to bring other people who hope together. That's always good stuff for our crusty hearts.
And to think, all of this good came about because some hucksters on Facebook decided to make satire pages and poke fun at each other. What a world!
Editorial on 06/25/2019