BATESVILLE — The former chief executive officer of the White River Health System will be one of three roastees during an annual dinner.
Gary Bebow, who retired in December as the CEO after 28 years at the health system, along with Dr. Andy Davidson and Dr. E.J. Jones, will be honored at the Toast & Roast Dinner at the Batesville Community Center on March 30.
“It’s a great way to raise funds for services within the White River Health System,” Bebow said. “I’m pleased to participate in the fun event that has some humor, of course. It recognizes a lot — in my case, the past 28 years.
“I’m looking forward to it.”
Bebow will be roasted by Dr. Jeff Angle. Davidson, who is a family-medicine physician at Cave City Medical Center, will be roasted by Dr. John Lambert. Jones, who is an obstetrics-gynecology physician at the main hospital in Batesville, will be roasted by Dr. Chris Steel.
Proceeds from the banquet will fund nursing scholarships.
“In the past, we’ve done a dinner, something similar to this,” said Tiffany Cox, project manager for the White River Health System Foundation. “Basically, we’ll do events and whatever the greatest need for that year is where the money will go.”
This is the second year that nursing scholarships have been the beneficiaries.
“The need has become so great that the yearly donations to that weren’t really keeping up with the need,” Cox said. “So we decided to do a dinner to honor physicians and to have an opportunity to raise money for the nursing scholarships. They go hand in hand.”
Three nursing students who work for White River will receive checks at the banquet.
Crystal McSpadden will receive $7,000 for the White River Health System Foundation Scholarship; Reagan Sweet will receive $7,000 for the Honkonen Scholarship; and Keeli Gay will receive $5,000 for the Carl and Amy Shaver Scholarship.
Previous to having a roast and toast, the foundation held a pink dinner for the Breast Care Center at the hospital.
Cox said the format was switched to a roast and toast after the pink dinner in 2017.
“We had some physicians who had gotten together, and they wanted to be able to honor other physicians,” she said. “The group thought we could do some sort of fundraiser.
“While we are in the fundraising world, adding another dinner on top of what we already did was really not feasible. It takes a lot of time to plan these dinners. We just switched gears and went with this.”
Cox said attendance tripled with the new format.
“It worked out well the first year,” she said. “We’re hoping for the same thing this year.”
Tickets for the Toast & Roast Dinner are $125 each, and seating is limited.
To purchase tickets, call Cox at (870) 262-1834 or email tcox@wrmc.com.
The event will start with a cocktail hour at 5:30 p.m. Dinner will be served at 6:30, and the program will begin at 7:30.
Staff writer Mark Buffalo can be reached at (501) 399-3676 or mbuffalo@arkansasonline.com.