SEP 30 2021
We cannot thank our community enough for the ways we have seen so many come together in the most creative and innovative ways to fundraise on behalf of our new neighbors and the work Canopy is doing to provide a smooth and safe transition to NWA. We have seen some AMAZING events and popping up including a classic motorcycle show, a snow cone and ice cream stand, a hand-crafted jewelry fundraiser, and SO much more! We had the pleasure of meeting with those who envisioned and implemented these community events and we are excited to be sharing these with you.
Hill City Rumble
Hill City Rumble is a vintage chopper motorcycle show in Fayetteville, AR. The group started the event in 2020 as a way to bring their community from all over together in a way that celebrates Fayetteville’s unique local flair. Husband and wife duo Jessica and Judd Ferguson envisioned the idea with some of their close friends, including Cory Van Dine who owns a local auto shop. The group was inspired by all of the incredible vintage bikes they had seen and wanted to hold an event where people could connect over their passion together. The group brought in local vendors and local musicians to play at the event as a fun way to highlight the work of NWA’s artists and makers.
This year, in the second year of their event, the Hill City Rumble community decided to give five percent of all their proceeds to support Canopy’s resettlement efforts!
Jessica is a local teacher in our public schools and has also worked in adult education and teaching ESL. She has worked with Canopy for a number of years as an ESL Tutor and loves working with Canopy students to help them achieve their English language goals. She also owns a shop in town called Rose Home & Co. and shares about Canopy with those who stop in who may not have heard about the work Canopy does. While she has loved using her skills in these various ways to support Canopy, she and her community wanted to do more.
The personal connections she has created with our new neighbors have given her a passion to keep making NWA a welcoming and supportive place. She enjoys discussing and advocating for the needs and strengths of refugees and how we can support them in their transition into a new home. She said she is “always in awe and shocked about how much is needed to be done and the support needed” in terms of resettlement and integration for each family even down to figuring out the bus systems. She is surprised about how many in the community don’t know about Canopy and loves to start conversations, “paint[ing] pictures for others about what it’s like and the amount of time they have to become self-sufficient” to help people understand the refugee experience, what Canopy is doing, and why it matters.
Beverly’s Snow Cone & Ice Cream Stand
Community members of all ages have rallied together to fundraise for our newest neighbors and we are absolutely touched. Beverly found out about what happened in Afghanistan through her school’s TREC (Think Research Explore Create) program at Bentonville Schools. Her mom, Eileen, shared with her about how Canopy is working to support refugees making our community home and when she heard about the needs that there were locally, she decided that she needed to get involved. Her plans went from holding a bake-sale to doing a snow cone and ice cream sale – what better way to beat the last days of summer heat? And not surprisingly, her community LOVED it!
Beverly and her friends successfully put on this chilly-treat sale from their RV and invited community members to come and cool down while supporting new Canopy families! Beverly’s friends loved getting involved and helping her out with taking people’s orders and serving them yummy refreshments out the window of their RV-turned-treat-shop.
When we asked what she would share with those who may not know yet how to get involved, she said “doing anything to raise money can help!”. Her sale raised $1,700 which will cover a housing sponsorship for a new family and MORE to go towards other resettlement costs!
She was proud, not only of the funds she raised from her treat stand, but also of the awareness she was able to create around refugee experience among many in her community who wanted more information.
We are so grateful for her hard work and advocacy! Beverly and other amazing young members of our community proved that you don’t need to be a certain age or have a ton of experience to make a difference in your community.
Bikes, Beats & BBQ
Another amazing NWA community gathered together around an annual bike race and created a pop-up event, enjoying BBQ and music by a live DJ and giving back to the community. Chuong Nguyen envisioned and put the event together with a group of his friends and we had the honor of hearing a bit about his story and why he decided to use this event to raise funds for Canopy.
For him, welcoming refugees into our community from around the world is personal.
Chuong’s parents are originally from the Republic of Vietnam – his mother was among around 800,000 “boat people” who fled by sea, survived, and eventually resettled in Northwest Arkansas. He believes hearing real human stories is important in discussion and awareness about the refugee experience.
To Chuong, bringing people together and getting rid of misconceptions about differences is at the heart of why he decided to do his fundraiser. “It’s important to talk about how to make sustainable change and not just work in the moment or for right now” he says. Chuong discussed the importance of context and learning about the historical and cultural traditions of our new neighbors. His idea of a welcoming community includes “understanding that people have key aspects of their culture that are important to retain” and celebrating the differences that make us all unique as well as the similarities that bring us together.
This fun event first sprung from a desire within his community to help local businesses stay alive during the beginning of the COVID pandemic with virtual events. Since being able to hold events in-person, they began to use the model they curated to fundraise for local organizations around NWA. Chuong decided to raise funds for Canopy when he learned about the situation in Afghanistan and the local need for support in NWA – and how many in his community were interested in helping!
He was pleased with the turnout and added that lots of people joined after hearing what was going on in Afghanistan. The group plans to continue their pop-up events to support Canopy and other local organizations. We are so grateful for the way Chuong and his community have used their interests and skills as a way to give back to the community and Canopy!
Hand-Crafted Jewelry
Alex is a local jewelry maker who decided to give ten percent of her sales to Canopy in the first five days of September.
A Fayetteville native and local artisan, she knows the community well and has a deep desire to use her connections and passions to advocate for and support those who are new to our community!
Alex learned more about Canopy as she started seeing and learning about the situation in Afghanistan in recent months. She explained that she “felt broken by the news, especially the implications for women and girls”. Her own research led her to supporting organizations who are doing the work on the ground with Afghan refugees and people from across the globe and she decided she needed to do something to get involved locally. She had recently taken her business full-time and decided to use what she had built to give back – and we are deeply grateful!
The sales from her beautiful jewelry raised $520 towards resettlement efforts, finding and securing safe housing, and more for Canopy families! We are so grateful to our community for all of these amazing ways (and more!) that you have gotten creative and invited others in to learn, support, and honor the individuals who have been displaced and work to create a welcoming home together.
Thank You
The creativity and compassion of NWA overwhelms us with gratitude time and time again.
These funds will go towards Canopy’s resettlement efforts, finding and securing safe housing, case management services, cultural orientation and integration services & youth services.
FUNDRAISE | We continue to hear from people who are interested in different ways they can get involved – if YOU have a creative idea or a business and are interested in holding a community fundraiser in support of Canopy, we would LOVE to hear from you! Send an email to Hannah Lee at hannah.lee@canopynwa.org with information about how you and your community or business want to use your skillset and interests for your own fundraiser!
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