Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Loggers Help Raise Funds For Children

Helping with the Log-A-Load was Terry Don McKinnon, who donated a load of top soal and a load of gravel to the project, which raised $15,000 for Arkansas Children's Hospital. Johnny Brannan bought the top soil.

This load of logs help the Log-A-Load raise $15,000 for Arkansas Children's Hospital. It was cut and hauled by Vaught Logging. The load was bought by Ricky Reddin for International Paper of Gurdon.

Lamb Logging cut and hauled this load of logs to sell during the Log- A-Load for Kids fundraiser in Prescott in May. This load was bought by Charles Ledbetter of Gurdon.

Area loggers and other members of the forestry community raised an estimated $15,000 to benefit the patients treated at Arkansas Children's Hospital at a recent Log-A-Load for Kids fundraiser held at Prescott.

The event was kicked off with an auction of pine logs donated by Potlatch Corporation and secured by Charles Ledbetter with a $4,000 bid, the highest of the evening.

The second load was purchased for a like amount by Rickey Reddin with International Paper Company at Gurdon.

Terry Don McKinnon donated a load of gravel and a load of topsoil for the auction. Curtis Lee Johnson donated two picnic tables to the auction.

Drawings were held for several door prizes, donated by Suttle Equipment. Last of all, a drawing for a rifle, donated by Bobby Smith and Al Wilson, and a Weedeater, donated by Poulan Weedeater, was held. The rifle winner was B.K. Robertson and the Weedeater winner was Jerry Brzeski.

Participants then sat down to an all-you-can-eat catfish dinner sponsored by Potlatch Corporation.

The Prescott fundraiser was one in a series of events scheduled throughout the state as part of the third annual Log-A-Load for Kids campaign, one of the fastest growing programs raising money for hospitals participating in the Children's Miracle Network (CMN).

This is the third year that Prescott-area loggers and members of the forestry community have held such a fundraiser. Jim Cornelius, who coordinated the event, attributed the success of the event to the fact that "many of us either know of a child or have had one of our own children at Arkansas Children's Hospital as a patient.

"We do this year after year, because we believe that our efforts will help make miracles happen for our children who receive care at Arkansas Children's Hospital," he added.

The Log-A-Load for Kids program started in 1988 in South Carolina and now operates in 17 states throughout the south.

In 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.

Volunteers and members of the forestry community who contribute to Log- A-Load for Kids do so based on one belief: "In Arkansas, trees are our most important renewable resource, but our children are by far our most precious resource."

The $15,000 raised at the Prescott event will help the 1997 Log-A- Load for Kids fundraising campaign meet its goal of $150,000, set in January by a statewide planning committee comprised of members of the Arkansas Forestry Association and Arkansas Timber Producers Association, sponsors of the program.