‘Boots and Bling Ball’ raises $9,000 for crisis center

The first ever, “Boots and Bling Ball” netted around $9,000 for the Donald W. Reynolds Crisis Intervention Center formerly the Crisis Center for Women. More than 250 attendees gathered at The Movie Lounge on Friday (May 17) decked out in their cowboy boots and their shiniest bling to dance the night away.

Backroad Anthem, a Fayetteville-based country rock band, provided a night of high-energy music. Known for their interesting and original sound, the band had the crowd on their feet, dancing and singing along. The talented musicians include the number one fiddle player in Oklahoma.

The seven man group, together for less than a year, will perform this summer at Thunder on the Mountain at Mulberry Mountain in Ozark with country music stars like Toby Keith, Big & Rich, and Luke Bryan. Also performing was the Thomas Ware Band, another talented local band.
 
Guests were treated to appetizers, drinks, and the chance to bid on silent auction items that ranged all the way from diamond jewelry to spa treatments. Glitzy Chick, Her Mother’s Daughter, Diane’s Treasures, and the Secret Nook had vendor booths.
 
Sponsors of the event were Arvest Bank, Matlock Media Group, First National Bank, Sparks Health System, Summit Medical Center, and Sykes.
 
“Definitely,” responded Susan Steffens, executive director of Donald W. Reynolds Crisis Intervention Center, when asked if this will become an annual event for the center. “Everyone should put it on their calendars for next year because we will definitely be doing this again. In fact, we have already started on it.”

All proceeds benefit the Donald W. Reynolds Crisis Intervention Center.

The Crisis Intervention Center, a United Way Community Partner Agency, has been in operation since 1979 with a mission to end domestic violence and sexual assault through services, education and prevention programs which empower men, women and children to live free of fear and harm within their own families and the community. The Center is the only provider of emergency shelter for women and children in a seven-county region.
 
Steffens, executive director since Aug. 1, 2012, said the shelter is staffed 24 hours a day and can accommodate up to 32 persons at one time. They also have an on-site sexual assault response center.  She hopes that the event will also help to raise awareness of the services that the Crisis Intervention Center offers to the community.

Junior and Senior High Schools throughout the service area participate in the Center’s awareness programs. In 2012, more than 7,438 students participated in a violence prevention curriculum in the Arkansas counties of Sebastian, Crawford, Franklin, Logan, Scott, Polk, Sevier (DeQueen), and LeFlore and Sequoyah counties in Oklahoma.