Brandy Harris admits she only has one setting when it comes to the commitments in her life, be it job, family or community service.
“Whenever I decide to dedicate my time to something, I’m all in, 100 percent,” she said.
Harris’ commitment to community service, namely as a member of the Jacksonville Sertoma Club, has not gone unnoticed by her peers. She was recently named Sertoman of the Year, despite only having been a member of the club for about 18 months.
“She’s got this enthusiasm that is just amazing,” said Barbara Thompson, vice president of the club. “A lot of people want to be on a board because they think it sounds good to be a member of a board, but not everybody is actually willing to work. Brandy is one of those people who is, and that makes her exceptional.”
“I’ve been on a lot of boards where they say, ‘We’re a working board,’ but they aren’t. They don’t do anything except come to a meeting once in a while. But when Brandy is there, she is active. She is involved. She seeks out ways that she can help the club, and I haven’t seen anyone else do that to that extent.”
Harris said the thing that attracted her to the Sertomans was the club’s focus on activities that impacted children.
“[Sertoma] gives back to local schools,” she said. “We’re out buying Christmas presents for children and going to different schools each month and honoring a teacher who has received an excellence award. That spoke to me.”
Harris, who in her professional life is the regulatory lending auditor for First Arkansas Bank & Trust in Jacksonville, was involved in a number of events during the year. She said the variety of activities the Sertomans participate in is another plus of the organization, from teas to a doggy Halloween costume contest. She said every little bit helps fund the larger work of the organization.
“Even the small events help us raise money,” she said. “We’re strictly nonprofit, so what we can do is all based off of what we can get back from the community, as far as raising funds.”
All told, the Jacksonville Sertoma Club was successful enough in community fundraising to give $10,000 to the local school system last year, Harris said. This amount included four $1,000 scholarships, as well as funding for smaller requests, such as school supplies and other needed support.
Just mentioning the club’s accomplishments brings an excited lilt to Harris’ voice, as does talking about the Feb. 22 Daddy Daughter Ball, the club’s largest fundraiser.
“The Daddy Daughter Ball, I think, is absolutely adorable,” she said. “This year, we’ll have a limousine pick the girls up, and they drive them around the parking lot one time and drop them off at a red carpet with five movie princesses waiting with crowns to crown [the girls] when they walk through with their dad. We have a professional photographer, dinner and dessert. We have a light-up LED dance floor and a DJ. We have a fancy photo booth for them.
“I’m all about glitz and glam, so I said, ‘I’m right there with all that.’ We want it to be an experience that little girls remember forever. In fact, the age is unlimited; we have grown daughters who come with their dads, and we have babies.”
Harris’ tenure with Sertoma may not be that long, but her connection to the community is, she said
“I was born and raised in Jacksonville. We have deep roots in Jacksonville,” she said. “One of my first jobs was here at First Arkansas Bank and Trust right out of high school as a teller at the main location on Main Street.”
Harris’ Mississippi-native husband, Brandon, was in the U.S. Air Force, which moved the family around until 2010, when he was stationed at the Little Rock Air Force Base. The family settled in Cabot, and Brandy made a beeline for her former employer.
“We were fortunate enough to come back to Arkansas, and when we did that, I chose to come back to First Arkansas Bank and Trust,” she said. “The way that Larry Wilson, CEO, treats his employees, you’re more than just a number; you’re family. I’ve been here ever since.”
The company stresses community involvement, which is what sent Harris in the direction of Sertoma in the first place, but it wasn’t her first bout of local volunteerism. That honor goes to the Butlerville Volunteer Fire Department, which the couple joined in 2012.
“My husband and I, we’re servants. It’s what we feel has been placed on us,” she said. “We decided to join the Volunteer Fire Department. My husband joined first, and I watched and thought, ‘You know, I can do that.’”
“A lot of the guys said, ‘It’s more of a man’s world; I don’t know if it’s a fit for a girl.’ I said, ‘Watch this,’ and I joined up.”
Despite the male-dominated culture and the heavy physical toll, Brandy has kept up with her fellow firefighters every step of the way.
“I run calls with my husband, side by side,” she said. “We work motor-vehicle accidents; we work house fires. If you have a medical emergency, we’re there for you. And I tell you, if it’s a young child or an elderly individual, I’m the first one out the door. Those are the ones who can’t fend for themselves.”
“When I can save a life or help another person, it makes my day. To have the satisfaction of knowing that you helped someone — that’s all the pay I need.”
Lonoke County Sheriff John Staley has known Harris since 2003. He said her dig-in spirit that you see now has always been there.
“I first ran for sheriff when I was 26 years old,” he said. “I was just running to learn how to run. She was the first one to assist me and say, ‘You can do whatever; you can be anything in the world you set your mind to be.’ It’s nice to have friends like that that you can count on.
“Her goal is to help others. That’s what she does. She’s always been somebody that if you need something, you know you can call and count on her.”
Staley said every community could use more people like Harris because of the positive impact she has on the people she comes in contact with. That, he said, can often be the difference between a person realizing their potential and taking a more destructive course.
“Brandy and the Sertomans are here to help folks realize that there is something more,” he said. “A lot of times, you’re a product of your environment unless you can break free of that. That’s what Brandy does; she helps people break out of their routine and keeps them from winding up somewhere in life they don’t need to be.”
Harris said she was shocked when she was named Sertoman of the Year, and the validation has made her even more determined to make a difference in the future. She said she doesn’t miss a chance to encourage others to pitch in and improve their communities, either.
“I’ve had someone sit across the table from me and say, ‘I’m just really busy, and I just don’t know if I can take the time to do it,’” she said. “So I tell them my story and how I give back and where my heart’s at and why I do it — that I, too, am very busy, but even if it’s just 30 minutes a day once a week, when you give back to something that’s important to you, you’re going to get so much more back in return.
“Whether it’s Sertoma or any other organization, go where your heart’s at. If you feel that it’s important to you, then it’s worth spending time on. You can make time for what’s important.”