Sue Frank does not have any children of her own, but she has always had a soft spot in her heart for kids. That soft spot is what prompted her to include Arkansas Children’s Hospital as one of three beneficiaries of her 401(k) retirement plan.
“Children are the future of the world, and sometimes they have health problems,” Frank says. “Arkansas Children’s Hospital is a sophisticated health care facility that makes it possible for kids to grow up and, hopefully, lead productive lives.”
Frank grew up in Dumas where she knew at a very early age she wanted to do something medically related. After undergraduate school, she attended the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) and earned her pharmacy degree in 1974. She worked as a pharmacist for the Health Department for four-and-a-half years before she was recruited to be a sales representative for Merck Pharmaceuticals. Frank, who recently retired from Merck, was an employee for more than 28 years and a manager for 22, most recently holding the position of executive business manager.
Born and raised in Arkansas, Frank has known about Arkansas Children’s Hospital for as long as she can remember. Her childhood next door neighbor, Steve Schexnayder, is head of the hospital’s pediatric intensive care unit. She also has friends and co-workers who have needed the services of ACH.
During her time working for Merck, Frank became increasingly involved in supporting Arkansas Children’s Hospital. Merck has a matching gift program, and for every dollar that Frank donates, Merck matches her gift 100 percent, up to $10,000 each calendar year. She can continue to get all donations matched as a retiree.
A few years ago, when Frank began mapping out her estate plans, she learned that a large portion of her 401(k) would be taxed after her death. That meant she had two choices – pay the taxes after her death or make a charitable contribution. Frank chose the latter and made Arkansas Children’s Hospital, her church and the UAMS College of Pharmacy the beneficiaries of her 401(k).
Frank has had the opportunity to tour Arkansas Children’s Hospital and see first-hand where her dollars are going.
“I read what ACH is doing in the newspaper, but it’s not like going there and seeing it,” Frank says. “And I’ll have to admit; every time I pass the hospital I look to see if the helicopters are on the roof. Because I know if they’re gone there is a little baby or child in trouble.”
Since her retirement, Frank has become a member of the Arkansas Children’s Hospital Auxiliary, a volunteer group that serves patients and families through fundraising and service projects.
Joyce Garrison
Joyce Garrison
Although Joyce Garrison, of Conway, has spent her entire life in Faulkner County, Arkansas Children’s Hospital has not always been on her radar screen.
“I couldn’t tell you exactly when I first began to hear about Children’s,” Garrison says. “I was on the quorum court for 10 years, and I was on the finance committee eight years of the 10. We had the hospital in our budget. It was not very much, but from time to time we would raise a little bit. So I was aware of Children’s then, and occasionally you hear of somebody having a child there.”
Garrison started personally supporting Arkansas Children’s Hospital in 2004, and then in 2006, she decided to make a larger contribution by establishing a charitable gift annuity using Wal-Mart stock she helped her dad pick in the 1960s. She set up a second annuity using the stock in 2007. With each annuity, Garrison made a $5,000 gift to Arkansas Children’s Hospital, and in return, the hospital makes fixed payments to her on a quarterly basis.
“If I live long enough, I may even get my $10,000 back,” she says.
Garrison has never been married and has no children of her own, but she says she feels compelled to give back to the organizations closest to her heart.
“Giving is what I feel led to do,” she says.
In addition to supporting Arkansas Children’s Hospital, she contributes to Carti, Central Baptist College and Central Baptist Church in Conway. She was inducted into the Half-Century Club at the University of Central Arkansas in October 2007.
Dr. Henry Rogers
Dr. Henry Rogers
Retired El Dorado, Ark., pediatrician Dr. Henry Rogers has first hand experience with the good work being done at Arkansas Children’s Hospital, dating all the way back to 1960 when he started practice at the Children’s Clinic in El Dorado. Dr. Rogers, now a resident of Little Rock, says in those days, he and his partners had a very busy practice.
“Arkansas Children’s Hospital was so vital in the health care of kids in south Arkansas because there was always an empty bed for the acutely ill child who needed the expertise of intensive pediatric care,” Dr. Rogers says.
He says it was a few years later when ACH came to his assistance in a different way.
“It was in the 1970s that neonatal care really started to explode in so many ways,” Dr. Rogers says. “There were so many new procedures and new techniques that we didn’t know. ACH trained our nurses and us about all the wonderful things going on in the nursery. Many thanks to Dr. Bob Arrington for starting a program to educate nurses and pediatricians around the state about the new procedures in neonatal care.”
Later, Dr. Rogers and his partners employed second-year residents from ACH to work in the El Dorado Children’s Clinic on weekends. This gave them some needed time off and helped establish a great relationship with ACH residents, who were able to gain some experience with the private practice of pediatrics. “They also educated us on the more recent happenings in the field of pediatrics,” Dr. Rogers says.
Dr. Rogers retired in 1985, and that’s when he really became involved at Arkansas Children’s Hospital. He first served on the Research Institute Board of Directors, and not long after, moved to the ACH Foundation Board. He served on that board until 2006 and continues to hold the title of board emeritus. He and his wife, Georgia, have also been financial supporters of the hospital.
“Arkansas Children’s Hospital just does a wonderful job in all areas and does so much research, and yet the clinical program gets stronger each year. It’s astounding to see the growth,” he says.
Ross Foundation
Jane Ross
Although the Ross Foundation, in Arkadelphia, typically limits its financial support to nonprofits in Clark County, the board has been willing to make an exception when it comes to Arkansas Children’s Hospital.
“Children’s is one of those organizations that every single one of our board members feels a strong connection to,” says Mary Elizabeth Eldridge, grants manager and cousin of the late Jane Ross, who established the foundation in 1967. “Everyone knows a life that’s been touched by Children’s.”
Mary Elizabeth says she enjoys being able to help organizations like Arkansas Children’s Hospital through her job at the Ross Foundation. Her father, Ross Whipple, worked with Jane Ross for nearly 30 years, and Mary Elizabeth has memories of Jane and the Foundation that go back as early as she can remember. The Ross Foundation’s assets come from timberland, and as a young child, Mary Elizabeth remembers helping Jane color in land maps. Later, as a teenager, she spent her summers in the woods learning about timber management.
Although Mary Elizabeth always thought working at the Ross Foundation would be the perfect career, she never expected to have the opportunity after going off to college.
“I never thought I would live back in Arkansas, much less in Arkadelphia,” Mary Elizabeth says. “I’ve always had a really special place in my heart for the mission of the foundation and trying to continue Jane’s legacy of what she started with the foundation, but I didn’t really know this would be where I’d end up working.”
Mary Elizabeth says she is pleased with the Ross Foundation’s support of Arkansas Children’s Hospital, just knowing the tremendous care that’s given to every child who walks through its doors.
“Jane had a special draw toward funding projects that would serve children with special needs because her sister, Nancy was born with special conditions,” Mary Elizabeth says. “The mission of Arkansas Children’s Hospital falls right in line with the types of organizations that Jane loved – anything that could improve the lives or circumstances of children statewide and in our local community.”
