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Methodist Family Health – Share the Light

Photography by Lori Sparkman Photography

   Fellow Arkansans – neighbors, colleagues and friends – are sharing a light of peace, kindness and generosity that makes The Natural State a little brighter. Inviting Arkansas and Methodist Family Health celebrate individuals who illuminate our community with goodness. Nominate someone today for a future feature that SHINES.

  Garver, a multidisciplined engineering firm, partners with nonprofit organizations through GarverGives. As part of a corporate giving program, each Garver office has a GarverGives committee that determines local initiatives to support. With more than 1,100 employees, the platform strengthens communities across the nation by providing grants, committed volunteers and charitable giving.

   GarverGives Little Rock Lead Emily Deer manages the daily operations of the program, which includes creating campaigns and partnerships as well as sharing the Garver STEM success story. “I have a personal passion for the field of corporate giving,” Emily attests. “Garver recognized that passion and I was offered the opportunity to manage the program in addition to my role in communications for the firm. As the lead, I work with an amazing group of GarverGives committee members to invest in communities across Garver’s 17-state footprint.”

   Established in 2015, GarverGives has awarded more than $1.6 million to approximately 500 national organizations and logged more than 5,200 employee community service hours. Of this funding, $647,000 has gone to STEM education initiatives for ages K-12. Emily acknowledges, “Schools and organizations know Garver for our philanthropic work in STEM and approach us for partnerships; that really speaks to what we’ve helped to build through GarverGives. We recognize that by investing in students now, we’ll be able to meet the future demands for diverse engineering talent.”

   Methodist Family Health Therapeutic Day Treatment School is one of the beneficiaries of GarverGives. The school provides the best of classroom instruction with mental and behavioral health services to address education, behavioral, emotional, and social needs. In 2022, engineers at Garver introduced Rube Goldberg machine kits, which challenge students to create a complicated machine to perform a simple task. Garver Director of Federal Services Wallace Smith explains, “Without realizing it, children are learning about energy transfer, kinetic energy and gravity. These are the fundamental principles of physics and engineering, and they are learning these things in a really fun way.” Methodist Family Health Program Consultant DJ Jones adds, “I’m seeing children show good communication, cooperation, impulse control and following instructions. They are helping overall social skills we teach in the program.” 

   Emily sums up the power of the GarverGives program: “Some of my favorite GarverGives memories are from when I’ve been able to spend time with students. Whether that’s been city planning activities with high school girls in Arkansas or designing bridges with elementary students in Oklahoma – watching individuals connect with STEM concepts has been personally and professionally fulfilling. The caliber of ideas coming from our students is mind-blowing. And these are our future engineers, entrepreneurs, architects, innovators. I can’t wait to see what impact they’ll someday make on our cities and communities.”

Sponsored by Methodist Family Health | Nominations accepted at Foundation@MethodistFamily.org
methodistfamily.org | #ShareTheLightandSHINE

Inviting Arkansas

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