Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Log A Load Is June 9

Area loggers and other members of the forestry community will gather at the Nevada County Fairgrounds June 9 to carry the load for kids during a fund-raising event for Arkansas Children's Hospital.

The festivities will begin at 2:00 p.m. with a softball game between loggers and Potlatch and International Paper personnel.

Activities for children will also be available. At 4 p.m. a turtle race will begin. A prize will be given for the best decorated turtle.

The fish fry beginning at 5 p.m. is one in a series of events scheduled throughout the state as part of the annual Log A Load for Kids campaign. Loggers and members of the forestry community are invited to participate, as well as others in the area who wish to make a donation. Tickets for the fish fry will be sold at the event for $5.

An auction, featuring items donated by individuals and businesses in southwest Arkansas, will be held after the meal. A silent auction will be ongoing during the entire event.

Of course, as the name implies, a load of logs will be auctioned off, finalizing the fund-raiser.

"Log A Load for Kids is a multi-million dollar sponsor of hospitals participating in the Children's Miracle Network (CMN)," Jim Cornelius of Potlatch Corporation in Prescott said. Cornelius works with area companies and individuals to coordinate a local Log a Load event. Greg Wahl of WD Logging in Delight is the chairman.

Log A Load for Kids started in 1988 in South Carolina when two loggers were discussing ways in which they could make a positive contribution to their local communities. This idea spread to other states (30 states currently participate) and began in Arkansas in 1993.

The money raised in Arkansas goes into an endowment set up through the Arkansas Children's Hospital Foundation specifically for Log A Load for Kids. When the endowment passed the $1 million mark in 1999 the funds were allocated to support an endowed chair of cardiovascular surgery. The Arkansas Log A Load for Kids Chair of Cardiovascular Surgery is the largest endowed chair at Arkansas Children's Hospital at $1.5 million. Dr. Jonathan James Drummond-Webb recently has been named as the first holder of this chair.

During the fund-raising period, event coordinators in different communities throughout the state host special events and fund-raising activities as part of local campaigns. In south central Arkansas this effort is carried out by loggers and other members of the forestry community, who work diligently to raise money to support the personnel, research and equipment needed to save the lives of thousands of Arkansas' children.

In the past eight years Arkansas' Log A Load for Kids program has raised more than $1,500,000, all of which remained locally to benefit Arkansas Children's Hospital. The local event netted $65,964 in 2000  one of the highest amounts raised in the state.

Arkansas Children's Hospital, like other CMN hospitals, treats children with all types of afflictions  cancer, heart and muscular disease, birth defects, cerebral palsy, AIDS and accidents. The staff and volunteers pride themselves on treating the whole child, rendering service based on need, not the ability to pay. Through the support of local programs like Log A Load For Kids and individual donations, CMN hospitals provide an estimated $2.5 billion in charity care each year.

This is the ninth year that local and area loggers and members of the forestry community have held such an event. In 2001 loggers from Nevada, Pike, Clark, Hempstead and Ouachita counties will come together to make this event the South Central Arkansas Log A Load for Kids.

"We do this year after year because we believe that our efforts will help make miracles happen for the kids at Arkansas Children's Hospital," said Cornelius.

For more information on the Prescott fund-raising activities or to make a donation to the Log A Load for Kids campaign, contact Cornelius, Duane Leamons or Greg Wahl, event chairman, at 870-887-2746.