For the past 11 years, Empty Bowls McKinney attendees have gathered to purchase hand-made ceramic bowls, sample food from local restaurants, and raise money to fight food insecurity in their community.
Local artists donate handmade bowls that are a key part of the annual event, which takes place on the square in downtown McKinney. Included in the cost of admission is a bowl for every guest to take home. There are also larger bowls that are part of the silent auction and raffle. Each bowl has a card inside that reads, “This bowl is a reminder to pray for those in the world with empty bowls due to hunger.”
Sponsor Coordinator Molly Jones said McKinney’s large artisan community and several pottery studios have made Empty Bowls successful over the years.
“I think the neatest thing about it is that it’s a fun event even though you’re tackling a very serious issue with food insecurity,” she said.
Empty Bowls McKinney raises money through event sponsors and ticket sales. Last year, the event raised $120,000, according to the organization’s website.
Attendees can purchase a general admission ticket to this year’s event on May 4 for $35. These tickets allow attendees to enter the event at 6 p.m. to choose a handmade bowl and sample soups from local vendors.
For guests who are able to donate an additional amount, Empty Bowls also features a Collector’s Club, which is a select group of 65 people, Jones said.
These 65 attendees will get early access to the event at 5:30 p.m. They will then choose a bowl from the exclusive Collector’s Club edition bowls and have first choice of soup samples from local vendors. These tickets cost $125—money that goes back into the local community.
“A huge portion of the money we raise goes to Community Life Line and Community Garden Kitchen,” Jones said.
Community Life Line is a crisis organization that serves all of Collin County. Empty Bowls McKinney helps supply the organization’s food pantry and helps with their food distribution program.
“Let’s say, for example, you’ve lost your job and you run out of savings, and you just need a little bit of help for one or two months,” Jones said. “That’s what this organization is there for.”
Empty Bowls also supports Community Garden Kitchen, which opened last June and hosts a program called “Dining with Dignity.”
“It’s sit-down style dining, four nights a week, and you can come in and have a chef-prepared meal for free with no questions asked,” Jones said.
With around 1,000 community members expected to attend the May 4 event, Jones said the organizers do not plan to change many aspects of Empty Bowls and hope to continue to build on last year’s success.
This year’s vendors include Blount Fine Foods, The Celt, Bernard’s Gourmet Foods, Harvest Seasonal Kitchen, Hug’s Cafe, Spoons Cafe, Local Yocal BBQ & Grill, Patina Green, The Pub, Rick’s Chophouse, Square Burger, CT Provisions and Coffee & Crumbs.
At the time of publication, this year’s sponsors include:
Blount Fine Foods
Globe Life
First United Bank
Del Sol Holdings
Love Life Foundation
Encore Wire
H-E-B
Dill Investments
Legacy Planning Group
ProNail Roofing and Solar
McKinney East
“The involvement from the community has been absolutely amazing,” Jones said. “We have over a hundred volunteers, and we couldn’t do it without them.”
To sign up to volunteer, purchase a ticket, or find more information, visit emptybowlsmckinney.com/.
The above story was produced by Mary Katherine Shapiro, a member of Community Impact’s Storytelling team, with information solely provided by the local business as part of their “sponsored content” purchase through our advertising team. Our integrity promise to our readers is to clearly identify all CI Storytelling posts so they are separate from the content decided upon, researched and written by our journalism department.
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Shaky hands. Hyperventilating. Inability to focus on her surroundings. Crying. This is what an anxiety attack feels like for Allyson Burciaga.
Burciaga is a sophomore at the University of Arkansas, studying psychology. Her anxiety frequently happens during social interactions which make parts of college difficult. She often feels isolated and struggled to make friends.
“It’s hard not to feel stupid for needing help with things that other people see as really simple,” Burciaga said.
Burciaga was one of 179,964 college students last year who attended counseling for mental health concerns, according to the Center for Collegiate Mental Health. A survey from the American Psychological Association said that anxiety is the top concern among college students. In the past seven years, the number of college students seeking counseling for mental health has increased from 46 percent to 54.4 percent, according to the CCMH survey.
Burciaga is not alone.
Burciaga said that in three of her classes this semester students were asked to find a group on the first day. Because of her social anxiety, she doesn’t like approaching people and this was very difficult for her.
“In college, you are in different classes with different people every day you don’t get the chance to become comfortable with people as easily,” she said.
Burciaga said one of her professors was dismissive towards her anxiety and told her that she was an adult in college and should just “get over it.”
“I felt put down because I felt like he was calling me a child for my anxiety when in reality I just don’t know how to approach people confidently,” she said.
Allyson Burciaga at Arsagas on campus Feb. 25. Burciaga discovered she had anxiety when she was 17 years old. She is a sophomore at the U of A, majoring in psychology.
Universities are having a difficult time keeping up with the increasing demand for mental health services. Although the U of A offers resources, in some cases, it is still not enough to meet the needs of the students.
When students come to Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) for the first time, they have an initial intake assessment and then are connected to resources. Students can attend group sessions and workshops for free or see a counselor one-on-one for $20 a session. Students who live on campus can see counselors in residence halls for free.
Kendra Glasper, mental health clinician and outreach coordinator, has worked at Pat Walker for three years. She sees the increasing number of college students who are seeking help for anxiety. She sees 17 clients every week. In addition, every Wednesday she has 10 intake appointments for new clients.
“Workshops and groups most beneficial for students with anxiety because they provide a space where they learn coping skills ways to manage it,” Glasper said.
CAPS is a part of the Pat Walker Health Center. CAPS is located on the second floor and offers mental health resources to students.
Glasper said there are many stressors associated with college that can increase a student’s anxiety. Most of the time students come to college with anxiety already, she said. Then they are on their own for the first time. That responsibility combined with financial stress can add to their anxiety.
Freshman Grace Scognamiglio said that large amounts of school work make her really anxious.
“During intense test weeks where I have a paper or test in every class, I close myself off from everything and don’t eat because I’m so stressed,” she said.
In addition to schoolwork, socializing outside of school is impacted by her anxiety as well.
“It’s very stressful when my anxiety gets bad around my friends who I haven’t told yet,” Scognamiglio said. “I feel like I have to hide it.”
Sophomore Paige McGaughy agreed that college is harder with anxiety.
“Going to class every day, I have no clue what to expect and that freaks me out,” McGaughy said. “It feels like I have extra weight on my shoulders that people don’t know about.”
McGaughy said having class on only Tuesdays and Thursdays has helped her curb her anxiety.
“It makes it much more manageable for me,” she said.
Scognamiglio said she went to Pat Walker last week and it was helpful. She said she is planning on going to group therapy sessions about anxiety.
While Pat Walker offers great resources for freshman students, sophomores and upperclassmen are more limited.
“I went to CAPS counseling my first year of college and it was completely free as an on-campus student,” McGaughy said. “I was unable to return to the program this year as they prioritize freshman. I have considered going to a counselor off-campus but I currently don’t have enough free time or money to do so.”
McGaughy said that Pat Walker should try to accommodate upperclassmen too.
Burciaga does not go to Pat Walker for her anxiety. She said that it was too expensive and did not work for what she needed. She sees a therapist who has helped her manage her anxiety and given her ways to ground herself during an anxiety attack.
She is a first-generation college student and she said that her family in Mexico reminds her why she’s going to school.
“They help motivate me,” she said.
Burciaga said that continuing to talk about mental health will help remove the stigma around it. She said it is important to listen when people speak to try to understand how anxiety and depression impact their lives.
The Fayetteville community is providing meals for students during quarantine
The day that schools closed, parents were panicking. Erica Kelso read their worries on social media and tried to stay calm. She wanted to be optimistic for her four kids. They were excited about the idea of sleeping in and doing schoolwork in their pajamas. She didn’t want them to worry, but she did wonder how long all of this was going to last.
Many parents worried about how their kids were going to eat. Of all the students enrolled in the Fayetteville, Arkansas, school district in 2016, 40 percent received a free or reduced lunch every day. These students count on getting a meal at school. The COVID-19 pandemic makes feeding students challenging, but the Fayetteville community is getting creative with food deliveries.
Erica is a single mom. Her kids are doing their school work online. At the same time she is working from home. She is an optician at LensCrafters in the Northwest Arkansas Mall and she’s a realtor. She is in her second semester of college, studying pre-optometry. Now she feels like she’s also the teacher, the lunch lady, the custodian, the school nurse and a working mom all at the same time. It is a lot. This Sunday afternoon she is cooking and preparing meals for the week. She likes to have healthy foods ready to go in her refrigerator, so today she made salmon and asparagus.
Erica Kelso, 43, stands with her kids Aiden, Maggie, Louis and Sophie. They live in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Photo courtesy of Erica Kelso.
Her kids qualify for the free and reduced lunch program at school. Erica took a financial peace course offered by her church a few years ago, which helped her save money and be prepared. She had enough money saved up so that she wasn’t struggling financially when the Coronavirus outbreak reached Arkansas.
LensCrafters was giving all of their employees emergency pay, so even though they were working reduced hours they were being paid like full time employees. This past week, emergency pay stopped and Erica filed for unemployment. She received a stimulus check from the government that she used for her car payment. She is still able to work as a realtor and had two closings this month so Erica has been able to pay her bills.
With the uncertainty of the economy, Fayetteville food pantries and school lunch pick-up has been a great resource for Erica and her family.
“We went through the Fayetteville Outback food pantry drive through last week and got Tide pods for our laundry, canned goods, crackers and peanut butter,” she said.
The volunteers gave them enough food for a week of lunches and breakfasts for each kid. They loaded the food into their trunk and stood six feet apart the whole time.
There was some candy in the bags of food too, but the Kelso kids ate it before they even made it back to their house.
Three of the Kelso kids with the food they picked up for the week. They pick up food at Butterfield elementary school April 22. Photo curtosey of Erica Kelso.
The first week of school lunch pick-up, they left an hour early. The line of cars stretched nearly two miles from the elementary school. There was so much traffic, cars couldn’t even get through stop signs. It was a jumbled mess. After waiting in line for 45 minutes, Erica heard the news: they had run out of food.
Erica said she heard people who didn’t qualify for free and reduced lunch were going to the school pick-up because they were trying to avoid the grocery store. The people who really needed food didn’t get it at the sake of other people’s convenience. The following week, the school district fixed the problem by spreading the food out and distributing lunches at five different schools.
The Kelso family has been going to Butterfield elementary school every Tuesday for the past few weeks. Last week they got sandwiches, apples, vegetables and four half gallons of milk.
The NWA Free Food for Kids Facebook page is one way that people are getting food for their families.
One of Russ Kidwell’s friends started the page and he wanted to get involved.
The NWA Free Foods For Kids page has over 7,000 members. It is a way for people to stay informed about resources in the area. Photo by Mary Katherine Shapiro.
“Right now, with having a little bit more time available and not having kids, I wanted to find ways to help people. Jumping into this really gave me an opportunity to do that.”
Kidwell grew up in Kansas, right in the middle of tornado alley. He knows the harm and the fear that natural disasters can cause. He has never experienced food insecurity, but he knows what it’s like to need help in a time of crisis.
Kidwell along with a few other page admins manage who is added to the group and what posts are allowed.
A lot of people need food, but have things that prevent them from getting it. People who work all day and can’t go to the delivery spots. People who have a disability. People who don’t have a car. Kidwell does what he calls “matchmaking.” He has a list of people who need food and a list of volunteers. They go to the distribution spots and pick up food for people who can’t pick it up themselves. He puts these people in contact with each other, making sure their needs are met.
Food picked up by Erica’s friend Sharda Ball April 7. There are several different food pick up locations across the city. Photo from NWA Free Food for Kids Facebook page.
Kidwell has done a few local deliveries and he likes being able to help people and see the impact the group is making.
“We want people to know how to get help,” he said. “There are a lot of great resources out there, you just have to know where to find them and that’s what this Facebook group is here for.”
Erica is a member of this Facebook group too. At first the idea of doing school at home was exciting to Erica’s kids, but they are starting to miss their friends. They’re getting tired of being home all day long. Her oldest son Aiden is a high school senior. He doesn’t mind missing his graduation, but Erica still wants to celebrate and is planning a graduation parade for him. She said Louis really misses playing baseball with his team and his best friend Gavin. They used to be at each other’s houses every day after school.
Amy Simpson, principal at Elm Tree elementary school, described the transition to at-home learning as “baptism by fire.” She said that they only had a three day warning before being notified that their school was closed.
Everyone is just doing the best they can and trying to figure it out, she said.
While the academic part of school looks different now, providing meals for the students is nothing new for the Bentonville school district.
Bentonville school administrators started a program called Every Child, Every Day long before the coronavirus pandemic.
“Every child gets fed a lunch, even if they haven’t filled out the paperwork to qualify for the free and reduced lunch program,” Simpson said.
Bentonville schools have fundraisers throughout the year, including selling t-shirts, to pay for meals and ensure that no student is turned away in the lunch line.
Bentonville Students can pick up meals at these locations. Photo from Elm Tree Elementary’s website.
Our district already had an account set aside to feed kids, we are just having to be more creative in how we do that, she said. No hungry kids at school. That’s the goal. And while schools may be closed, they are still taking care of their students.
During this time of social distancing, it is common to feel isolated and lonely, but Erica said she hasn’t felt that way.
“I have a great support system,” she said. “Our neighbors checked on us and made sure we had toilet paper. Then they turned on their grill and let my kids come over to roast marshmallows.”
Although the circumstances are challenging, Erica is thankful to spend more time with her kids. Last semester she would go to class at 8 a.m. then be at work by 9. After working all day, she had kids to take care of and dinner to make and paperwork for her job as a realtor.
“Usually we are constantly running around, but we’ve had time to cook more at home, be outside and go for walks together,” she said. They have also dyed easter eggs and made slime. They’ve been going for drives for a change of scenery.
“If we didn’t have all those resources, I would feel really anxious and isolated right now. But because of things like schools distributing food, my single-parenting group at church and our neighbors we are still able to be connected and have our needs met.”
With food pick up for her kids, Erica hasn’t been worried about how her kids are going to eat. Instead of this being a time of fear and stress, Erica has enjoyed the slower pace of life and spending more time with her kids.
Fayetteville Mom educates the community about dwarfism
Three-year-old Everett Stuckey has dwarfism, but he is so much more than this diagnosis. He lives in Fayetteville, Arkansas with his mom Kelly. He goes to preschool four days a week. He loves board games and playing Super Mario on his Nintendo. His favorite foods are pizza and chicken nuggets. He gets excited about having play-dates with his friends. Like most three-year-olds, he is headstrong and likes to do things his own way. Kelly says he’s smart for his age.
On top of how rare dwarfism is, there is also a lot that people don’t know and it has become kind of taboo, Kelly said. A lack of knowledge and a lack of representation in the media has led to a stigma surrounding little people.
Everett Stuckey stands in a pumpkin patch. Dwarfism causes people to have shorter arms and legs in relation to their torso and an enlarged head. Photo courtesy of Kelly Stuckey.
The media has told a single-story about little people for a long time. In PT Barnum’s circus, he exploited people who were different. He hired little people to perform for entertainment. Little people play Oompa Loompas in Charlie and the Chocolate factory. They play munchkins in the Wizard of Oz. Both of these are minor roles depicting mythical creatures.
Another offensive form of representation is “midget wrestling.” The Little People of America website says, “when a venue hosts midget wrestling, they are reinforcing stereotypes that portray little people as objects of entertainment.”
Last week, a nine-year-old boy with dwarfism captured global attention after his mom shared “a heartbreaking video of him in distress over being bullied,” CNN said.
When people are only represented one way in film and television, they can start to think that they are limited to that one narrative.
“You don’t see little people that often in movies, but when you do see them they are cast to be a joke or a mythical creature,” Kelly said. “I get it, it’s a small percentage, but I would love to see a few movies cast little people where there is no joke but they’re just an average person.”
She is passionate about educating people on what dwarfism is and how it impacts everyday life. One way Kelly advocates is through sharing her and Everett’s experiences on her social media page. (@hellokellystuckey)
In the mornings, Kelly drinks coffee and Everett drinks chocolate milk. Kelly has passed on her love of music to her son. If they have a slower morning, with nowhere to be, Kelly plays the piano while Everett sits in her lap. They love to dance. Everett chooses the song and Kelly holds him as they dance around the living room. She shares pictures of her and Everett to try to help people see dwarfism not as a myth or a joke, but as a regular part of life.
There are challenges in their everyday life too. Everett doesn’t have the freedom to just go outside and play like most kids his age can. He can’t reach the doorknob, so Kelly has to go with him. It was difficult for him to learn how to eat because he also has a facial palsy. He still eats slowly and that frustrates him. She worries about Everett going to middle and high school. She worries about the classrooms being far apart because it takes Everett twice as long to walk from one place to another.
Kelly Stuckey, 37, stands with her son Everett in their kitchen on February 11. They live in Fayetteville, Arkansas, where Kelly graduated college. Photo by Mary Katherine Shapiro.
Every year Kelly sends out a letter to the parents and teachers in Everett’s preschool class. She said she wants to educate parents to have the conversation at home before they go out in public with their kids and something hurtful is said.
“But if you are out in public and something is said, don’t shush them,” Kelly said. “It is okay that they notice things are different. Use that as an opportunity to educate them instead of just sweeping it under the rug,” she said.
Kelly isn’t afraid to have conversations with strangers when they say something hurtful. She remembers starting a conversation with strangers at the airport while watching the Kentucky Derby. Two men who were sitting beside her, joking about some of the people at the derby being short and calling them midgets. They thought they were being funny, Kelly said.
Everett wasn’t with her, but she still felt compelled to say something. She interrupted and said, “I don’t want to make y’all uncomfortable but my son is a little person.”
They started asking questions like, “How do you know he won’t grow out of it?”
She explained that “midget” is a derogatory word and said that dwarfism is a bone growth disorder that people don’t grow out of. Kelly said it turned into a great conversation. The two men even started to cry. She said that most of the time when people say things like that they are uneducated and just don’t understand.
A few years ago, Kelly didn’t understand what dwarfism is either.
People with dwarfism can be born to parents of average stature. 80 percent of little people are born to average-sized parents, according to the Understanding Dwarfism website. It is difficult to detect on an ultrasound, so Kelly and her husband Zac had no idea that Everett was a little person.
Kelly had a routine pregnancy but after 46 hours of labor, the doctor knew something was wrong. People with dwarfism often have enlarged heads which can cause complications in childbirth. Because of this, Kelly had to have an emergency c-section.
After Everett was born, everything seemed fine.
Kelly holds Everett at Washington Regional Hospital in Fayetteville, Arkansas. He was born on April 22, 2016. Photo courtesy of Kelly Stuckey.
The day they were discharged from the hospital a nurse asked Kelly and Zac, “Have you noticed that your son is pretty unusual looking?” They were shocked and overwhelmed. The nurse started using these big medical terms and suggested Everett might have achondroplasia, a kind of dwarfism, Kelly said.
They thought she was wrong at first. They went to see a pediatrician and Everett had bloodwork done at five days old.
In the waiting, Zac and Kelly decided they would not do any research on dwarfism. They spent a lot of time in prayer and just taking care of their son.
“To me he is perfect and he’s beautiful and in a way, I’m glad I didn’t know about the diagnosis until after he was born,” Kelly said.
Kelly was at home in the nursery trying to feed Everett when the doctor called. The test results came back and confirmed that he did have dwarfism. Kelly said her first thought was, How is the world going to treat him? And she cried.
“I want to make sure he knows he can be what he wants to be and that he’s not limited to certain roles or jobs because of this,” Kelly said.
Peggy O’Neill was told that people would never hire her because she is a little person. Now she is an author and professional speaker who travels to schools and corporations to give speeches on inclusion and empowerment.
People need to be respected, she said. They desire to see a reflection of themselves in movies and television because that gives them a sense of belonging.
“Representation of little people is terrible,” Peggy said.
Her ex-husband, who is also a little person, was an actor and Peggy said the roles he got offered were very limited. He played elves in Christmas commercials. He was a child stand-in, who stood on the set while the producers fixed the lighting for a child actor. There were multiple times he was asked to show up to an audition in diapers, to play the role of a baby.
Peggy wants to see little people in roles where they speak, interact with other characters and have relationships. She wants to see more accurate depictions of little people.
Peggy O’Neill, 64, speaks at events all across the United States. A friend encouraged her to start speaking as a profession. Photo courtesy of Peggy O’Neill.
Peggy said the biggest challenge of being a little person is adapting to a world made for average-sized people. Things like telephone booths, cars, light switches and furniture are all hard for her to use.
While all of that is difficult, Peggy said the biggest challenge is the way people respond to her. She said people assume that because she is a little person, she has little intelligence.
“Everywhere you go there’s a reaction. There’s a reaction when you go to school, when you go to work and when you get up on stage to speak,” Peggy said. “People think, “Oh my gosh, this person is so different than me” and they go into a state of shock and fear.”
Everett is getting to the age where he is starting to notice these reactions. He has started to notice that he is different, so Kelly has started pointing out differences in nature to try to teach him that differences are a good thing.
“Everett, look at how many different kinds of trees there are,” she says. Kelly said she believes that everyone is created in the image of God. She said we should celebrate that we are not all the same.
She said she wants Everett to have confidence that God made him and loves him and he has a purpose. She hopes that he will find his identity in Christ rather than a diagnosis.
Kelly leans heavily on her faith, especially now that she is parenting Everett alone. Her husband Zac died in a motorcycle crash in July. Kelly said she worries about not having her husband to help her with big decisions, like where Everett will go to school in a few years. She worries about Everett having confidence, growing up without a strong father figure. “It breaks my heart that his Dad won’t be here,” she said.
Zac Stuckey sits with Everett at 3 Crazy Berries. Kelly said he always made their family laugh. Photo courtesy of Kelly Stuckey.
She wishes Zac was here to help Everett with hygiene. Some little people’s arms are not long enough to wash their hair properly. Even going to the bathroom can be challenging.
“Zac was always the really light-hearted and fun one and I have always been more serious. I worried really early on if I would be able to make life fun for Everett.”
Kelly said that she has male friends and family members who will help fill in the gaps, but it will never be the same without Zac.
She wrote on Instagram in September, “God’s Word tells me that he who began a good work in me will be faithful to complete it (Phil 1:6). That the Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit (Psalm 34:18). So many promises and God has been SO NEAR & FAITHFUL. I can’t deny His presence and guidance any more than I could deny this pain. He is supplying supernatural strength to get up, show up, and bring fun and joy into Everett’s life. One day at a time.”
Kelly has Bible verses all around her home. Her faith is an important aspect of her everyday life. Photo by Mary Katherine Shapiro.
Even with this hope, Kelly said that grief has made her brain feel broken. She and Everett have both been going to counseling. She had a friend come over to help her sort through their house. She is putting together a scrapbook and saving things that belonged to Zac to give to Everett when he’s older to help him feel connected to his dad.
Kelly said she has been telling herself to “just show up.” Adjusting to life without Zac has been hard, but she keeps showing up. She shows up to her job. She shows up to be a mom. She shows up to meet with friends. She shows up to share her story and continue fighting for better representation of little people like Everett.
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Erik Creekmore stopped going to church when he was 15. That was when he heard his pastor condemn gay people in a sermon filled with anger and hatred.
“He said they didn’t deserve love and they were going straight to hell,” Creekmore said.
Creekmore identifies as gay. Even at 15, long before he told his parents, Creekmore knew he was the type of person his church would not accept.
“I was sitting in a church where everyone hated me for something that I did not choose,” he said.
Erik Creekmore, 25, in Starbucks April 2. Creekmore works as a registered medical assistant. Photo by Mary Katherine Shapiro.
Christian churches have condemned homosexuality for hundreds of years. However, some members of the LGBTQ community have found acceptance in gay-affirming churches. Creekmore has found a place to heal the hurt and remove the hate experienced in the church. He has found a community at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church and is being confirmed in May.
Discovering a New Identity
Creekmore said at 13, the feeling that he was different hit him “like a ton of bricks.”
He said he remembers seeing boys, realizing he was attracted to them and thinking, “oh no, that’s not good.”
The weight of this realization was made heavier by the shame surrounding homosexuality in Creekmore’s church.
“I was taught that God was vengeful and hated certain people,” he said. “God was a person to be feared and if you weren’t a certain way then he didn’t love you.”
He was afraid to tell his family and friends, but as he was researching his new identity online he came across a chat room. This chat room provided a supportive community for Creekmore at a time when he felt hated and unloved. He said it was nice to know that other people were feeling the same things he was feeling.
“I didn’t feel so isolated,” he said.
He waited to tell his family until he was 18. He prepared for the worst. He had a job so that if his family kicked him out he would be able to support himself.
“I felt like a giant weight was lifted off my shoulders, but I was terrified at the same time because you don’t know what the result is going to be,” he said.
Creekmore’s uncle didn’t talk to him for two and a half years. His childhood best friend ended their friendship of eight years.
The rest of his family was very accepting of his same-sex attraction and he said he considers himself lucky.
But Creekmore still had not been back to church.
“I felt kind of blind,” Creekmore said.
His Baptist church in Fort Smith had made it clear that he was unwelcome and called him unloved.
“I’ve always held on to religion but that experience made it bitter,” he said.
Without religion in his life, Creekmore said he felt like he was “lost in the wilderness for a very long time, stumbling around.”
A New Beginning
Creekmore went moved to Fayetteville three years ago.
And at 23 he went back to church.
In 2016, after the Pulse shooting in Orlando, Florida, St. Paul’s Episcopal Church had a candlelight vigil and Creekmore decided to go.
“That was the first time I had been in a church in years, and it was the first time I felt comfortable,” Creekmore said.
After that service, Creekmore did more research on the Episcopal church and began attending regularly.
He said that St. Paul’s teaches what he thinks Christianity should teach: loving everyone without judgment.
“It has completely changed my idea of Christianity,” he said. “Instead of fire and brimstone and hate, it was the shedding of hate and the acceptance of everyone.”
Accepted
Rev. Evan Garner is the rector at St. Paul’s. He said that St. Paul’s believes that God loves everyone regardless of their gender or sexuality.
Garner said that every three years, leaders from Episcopal churches all over get together at the general convention. There they make decisions and review their beliefs. He said that members of the Episcopal church have always believed in God’s unconditional love, but until recently did not extend that love to members of the LGBTQ community.
St. Paul’s Episcopal Church is located at 224 N East Ave in Fayetteville. St. Paul’s is a gay-affirming church. Photo courtesy of St. Paul’s website.
In 2003 in New Hampshire, Gene Robinson became the first openly gay bishop. Garner said that after that, priests began approving more same-sex unions.
“There are same-sex couples who participate actively in our church,” Garner said.
He said they “serve in leadership positions and do readings in the services.”
“There’s no second class status for them,” Garner said.
“It was like a sheet was taken off my eyes when I discovered the Episcopal church and it is absolutely the best thing I’ve ever done,” he said.
He no longer needs the support of the online chat room that he turned to in his teens. He has found community at St. Paul’s. A community that loves him as he is, instead of trying to change him.
“My church family is very important to me because it provided the structure that I really needed in my life,” Creekmore said.
Garner said he tells people, “if you don’t feel safe or secure in your congregation, come visit us.”
“Now I have refound the path I was meant to be on and I am happy for the first time in a long time,” Creekmore said.
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – It’s 5:30 p.m. Tuesday night and Sonia Gutierrez sits down on the left side of the semicircle of chairs. Mayor Lioneld Jordan begins to read the meeting agenda. She sits in between Sarah Marsh and Susan Norton. On the table in front of her, a sign reads Ward 1, Position 1. Sonia Gutierrez, 44, is the first Latinx to be elected to the Fayetteville city council.
“I was just in shock and overwhelmed and so incredibly humbled,” she said.
Gutierrez said this is huge for the Latinx community and they are counting on her to be their voice.
According to the Northwest Arkansas Council’s Diversity report, the Hispanic/Latinx population in Fayetteville was 6,452 people in 2017.
“I feel that we need to increase diversity in our city committees and boards. The Latinx community has a variety of needs,” she said. “Some of us were born here while others were not. My focus is that we invite all people to the table and actively ask ourselves who is missing.”
Her main goal for the Latinx community is to be a mentor and example. She wants to show them that they can run for office, get involved, and make their voice heard.
Sonia Gutierrez holds Ward 1, Position 1 on the Fayetteville city council. She has lived in Fayetteville since 2003.
Gutierrez won with 571 votes (67 percent) in a runoff election in December.
How did she win the election? She thinks it was the deer.
While Gutierrez is in office, she has five main initiatives she wants to focus on: affordable housing, discouraging infill that doesn’t fit in neighborhoods, homelessness, traffic and deer.
She came up with her initiatives by talking to people in the city. Deer in Fayetteville have been eating plants in people’s yards and causing car accidents. Gutierrez said she thought people would think she was crazy when they saw deer as a part of her platform, but it worked. She laughed as she said that people still email her thanking her for addressing the deer issue.
To reach these goals, Gutierrez said she was going to start planning quarterly meetings within the ward to report progress and stay on track. She wants these meetings to be a “State of the Ward Address” where she will update residents and listen to concerns they have about their neighborhood.
Gutierrez said she wants to keep Fayetteville financially fit, friendly and funky. These ideas revolved around the city economy, inclusivity of all people and embracing the local arts and business scene.
To keep Fayetteville financially fit, She plans to “support a healthy ecosystem of businesses, organizations, and individuals that share the values of Fayetteville—people and environment,” she said.
The friendly part of her platform revolves around inclusivity for people of all ages, backgrounds, abilities and income levels. She said she wants “ all people to be involved in city government so that all voices are represented.”
Gutierrez said she wants to support the growth of arts and culture to keep Fayetteville memorable and funky. She also said she supports local businesses and wants to protect the “curb appeal” of Fayetteville.
Gutierrez has not always called Fayetteville home. Before she was 5 years old, she had lived in Texas, Puerto Rico and New Orleans. She moved to Arkansas in 1980 and started college at the University of Arkansas in 1992.
Living in many different places instilled a love of travel in Gutierrez. She spent her junior year studying abroad in Europe. This experience had a big impact on her life. Things she learned studying abroad are still applicable in her life today.
“I learned to be open to cultures and art and people,” she said.
She attended graduate school in New York City to study design. After 9/11, she realized she wanted to be closer to her family. She decided she could be close to her family while still pursuing her dreams. Gutierrez moved back to Arkansas and opened New Design School, the first design school in Arkansas, in 2003.
Her interest in local government began in 2009 when Mayor Lioneld Jordan asked her to lead the Creative Economy Action Group in Fayetteville. This group brings together people involved in business and creative groups to help shape public policy. This experience gave Gutierrez the desire to run for city council.
The campaign process was intense, Gutierrez said with a sigh.
“I think I pretty much ran the rest of my campaign from my phone, horizontal in my bed because I was so exhausted.” She had been campaigning since January 2018.
Since the election, Gutierrez said she has received nothing but positive feedback from the community, and that the people of Fayetteville are thrilled to have added ethnic diversity to their city council. Mayor Lioneld Jordan said he asked Gutierrez to lead the group because he was confident in her ability to represent the city well. He said that he is thrilled that she has been elected to this position.
“It’s an honor to know her,” Jordan said. Other city council members, such as Sloan Scroggin, Ward 3, are looking forward to working with Gutierrez. Sarah Bunch, Ward 3, had a similar opinion. “I think she’s going to be a good representative of her city and her ward,” she said.
At the February 5 city council meeting, Gutierrez voted against an ordinance to rezone property on Starr Drive for residential single-family units.
Gutierrez votes against rezoning requests at the city council meeting February 5. She said she wants to focus on discouraging infill that doesn’t fit in neighborhoods.
“I voted against the rezoning requests because I campaigned on being tougher on adding denser development in single-family neighborhoods. I am siding with the residents who don’t want businesses and apartments in the middle of their neighborhoods,” she said.
Gutierrez loves Fayetteville. She will continue to be a voice for the Latinx community and inspire them to speak out.
Mary Katherine Shapiro 