While Hot Springs Junior Auxiliary's annual fundraiser will take adult partygoers back to the Roaring '20s for a night of food, drinks and charity gambling at Prohibition on Jan. 21, the fun event is all for the benefit of children.
"Our sole purpose is to create any type of better life for the children of Garland County," says the organization's president, Ashton Honey-Wright.
Junior Auxiliary has several projects aimed at helping children throughout the year. In the fall they host JA Fun Day for children with special needs.
"This past year, we had 200 students from different schools throughout the county come to the Mid-America Science Museum. It's just for special-needs children and we catered the whole day to them. We provide lunch and we get to spend a lot of time with them."
Another program, says Honey-Wright, is LIFE -- Looking Into Future Endeavors. The project assists Garland County teenage students in the foster care system by teaching valuable life skills to help them to become self-sufficient adults. Topics that are taught include healthy lifestyles, financial responsibility and career development skills.
Junior Auxiliary also works with The Call, an organization that recruits, trains and supports foster parents. JA volunteers sponsor several foster families that can call them when they have a need. A big spring program for Junior Auxiliary is Heart for Art, Honey-Wright says.
"We educate children through the art curriculum of the dangers of heart disease and how to prevent them. Then they'll do art projects and the chosen finalists will get to compete." The winners receive a big package of art supplies.
The group also awards $10,000 in scholarships annually. They are given to local graduating high school seniors or currently enrolled college students. "We give particular emphasis to those students seeking higher education in a child-related field."
Honey-Wright has been with Junior Auxiliary five years and this year serves as president. Originally from Hot Springs, she had been living in Washington and when she returned to live in Hot Springs again, she needed a way to reconnect and make friends so she joined JA.
"It's been really nice. I've met Lindsey [Pelton, chairwoman of Prohibition] and a lot of girls ... who are not from here, and that we've all really created a special bond," she says.
"I am also originally from Hot Springs and my husband and I moved to Houston for about seven years," Pelton says. They returned to Hot Springs, and Pelton, a former early childhood primary teacher, says they decided she would stay home.
"I still needed an outlet of service for children," Pelton says. "So that's why I decided to join the Junior Auxiliary. It was also a good way to have new connections and meet new people."
This is Pelton's third year with Junior Auxiliary and she is in charge of organizing this year's Prohibition.
"This is our one and only fundraiser that we use to fund all our programs throughout the year. It is a '20s-theme fundraiser held at the Hamp Williams building," Pelton says.
She says there will be casino tables with charity gambling. They're not winning money, she explains, but tickets that can be submitted for drawings to win prize packages. The evening will also include live music and a DJ for dancing. Magician Maxwell Blade will also entertain at the beginning of the evening and there will be live and silent auctions.
"I think that it's really the only type of event like that around here," says Honey-Wright about the fundraiser. "It's definitely been voted the best of the best in Hot Springs for years now. And it's fun to dress up and to help children."
"I love that it is just so Hot Springs," Pelton says. "It fits with our history and who we are. It's just like stepping back in time and just so fun."
Prohibition begins at 7 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 21, at the Hamp Williams Building, 510 Ouachita Ave., Hot Springs. Hot Springs Pediatric Clinic is the presenting sponsor. Tickets are $75 and include food from local restaurants, drink tickets and $300 in charity gambling chips. Visit tinyurl.com/3b77w74a to buy tickets.