LifeSource Feeds Hope

One day each October, Randy Laney stuns a group of Jefferson Elementary School students into silence. The moment comes around a bonfire when kids in Ernie Conduff’s esteem-building “I’m Awesome” program visit Laney’s ranch near the Illinois River for a hayride and weenie roast.

The executive tells them he went to school at Jefferson, too.

Making other south Fayetteville natives believe they can also “make it” has become a calling for the CEO of Mercari Technologies Inc. That’s why in November Laney and Conduff helped found LifeSource International Inc., a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving lives in Northwest Arkansas’ most economically distressed neighborhood. Their goal is to increase opportunities for south Fayetteville that can translate into better jobs and even commercial revitalization.

Laney, the former treasurer and vice president of finance at Wal-Mart Stores Inc. in Bentonville, met Conduff and got involved in south Fayetteville volunteer work through Fayetteville’s Christian Life Cathedral.

“It gets pretty quiet for a moment at the hayride every year as [the students] have a real recognition that we’re all just people,” Laney said.

“That is the kind of experience we want people to have at LifeSource time and again. That’s where the electricity is.”

A religious-based, Christ-centered organization, LifeSource expects to raise $150,000 by year’s end.

Following early stage capital improvements to its facility at 600 South School Ave., the community action center will operate with an annual budget of $125,000-$150,000. Laney said that number may fluctuate as programs are added or modified.

Laney emphasized that although the program is religious-based, LifeSource in no way intends to force religion on its customers. He and Conduff, director of LifeSource and part of Christian Life Cathedral’s staff for 11 years, just want to help their clients believe in themselves.

“LifeSource is about giving people hand-ups, not handouts,” Conduff said

Unlike many outreach programs, LifeSource is permanently located in the neighborhood it serves. It employees three people full-time and relies on at least 40 additional volunteers, about 20 of whom are very active.

LifeSource’s summer day camp for kids begins June 10, and numerous at-risk and adult skill-building programs are in the works.

Food distribution services, which expect to see 40-60 families per week, and mentoring and academic tutoring programs round out the center’s holistic ministry.

LifeSource’s grand opening will be a community picnic from 4-7 p.m. on June 29. Potential supporters and customers of the center are being invited to attend together. That way, Laney said, instead of merely writing a check the program’s supporters can see their impact on real lives. He called the event ” a celebration of Fayetteville.”

“We’re not thinking we’re here to rescue people,” Laney said. “South Fayetteville is already a strong community. People here have jobs, go to church and learn at school. We just want to create long-term opportunities, so instead of stopping by for one day our model is to make a commitment to the community.

“Business leaders have been supportive because they know what’s good for south Fayetteville economically is good for Fayetteville and Northwest Arkansas overall.”

Underutilized Area

According to nutrition data from the Arkansas Department of Education, 84 percent of the students at Jefferson Elementary receive free and reduced lunches. By comparison, only 11 percent of the students at Vandergriff Elementary School in opulent east Fayetteville receive the same assistance.

Although Fayetteville doesn’t have a traditional “warehouse district” filled with dilapidated old buildings, Sixth Street and South School Avenue — which intersect in front of LifeSource — remain the city’s low-rent commercial corridors.

Tracy Mulvenon, Jefferson’s principal, said a program such as LifeSource can strike a blow to the whole cycle of poverty that affects some families because of its emphasis on education and self empowerment. It is a perfect model, she said, to improve the area’s labor pool and reduce local needs for public assistance.

“Programs like Randy’s that make the community responsible for its own empowerment are the ones that make people want to succeed,” Mulvenon said. “They encourage kids to see beyond their environment and that success can come from within.”

John Roberts, president of the dedicated contract division of J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc. in Lowell, is also a LifeSource board member.

He got involved in south Fayetteville philanthropy by visting with friends at Fellowship Bible Church in Lowell.

Roberts said the key was to create a self-sustaining model that could equip people better for life and hopefully help them write their own success stories.

“There are a lot of fine people in that part of town who can make a great contribution to Northwest Arkansas,” Roberts said.

“Long-term, I would like to see LifeSource duplicated in other communities where it is needed. LifeSource is about support for real life, and as I have seen in my own business model, once you help people get going the opportunities there tend to drive themselves.”

South-side Roots

Laney grew up on Jenelle Street in south Fayetteville. The son of a carpenter and a seamstress, Laney said his blue-collar home wasn’t as disadvantaged as it was committed to hard work and education.

His elementary and junior high school experiences in the Fayetteville school system — at the time it was being desegregated — made a dramatic impact on his life.

One of the first school systems in the South to integrate blacks, Fayetteville began bussing students to make its districts more diverse. On his daily bus rides to the north side of town, Laney was in the minority.

“I was white but I came from what most people considered the black part of Fayetteville,” Laney said. “I obviously had less barriers to overcome from a racial standpoint, but I saw the worst of it all and vowed from an early age that I was going to do something about it. My real motivation is to share with the rest of the area the richness of the community that is down in south Fayetteville.

“These neighborhoods are filled with capable, good people who want the same opportunities many of us take for granted. I know first hand it can be done. It is a little about bootstrapping, it’s also about helping people deal with what might be the source of their problems through counseling and support.”

Four local companies, including a couple that rank in the Fortune 500, have already expressed an interest in interviewing LifeSource clients who complete ESL (English as a Second Language), computer and other vocational courses.

Wiggins Memorial United Methodist Church, which is behind LifeSource on Sixth Street, is offering its basketball court for the nonprofit and the Walton Arts Center is being used to consult on fine arts programs.

The Ozark Food Bank, Arkansas Rice Depot, Fayetteville’s U.S. Post Office and the Salvation Army have also made contributions.

“Throw away the old paradigm of how what some would call a ‘charity’ is supposed to work,” Laney said. “Our customer is any family or person who is stressed for whatever reason.

“Maybe a language barrier, alcoholism or job loss has gotten someone off track. We’re going to work to make them feel good about themselves and their future again.”

Laney said LifeSource is open to working with other local programs. Ultimately, he said, the organization hopes its model will be duplicated internationally.

LifeSource Board

Directors — Title — Affiliation

Elise Mitchell — president — Mitchell Communications

Randy Laney* — CEO — Mercari Technologies Inc.

Ted Borgstadt — president, CEO — TrestleTree Inc.

Blake Woosley — specialist — University of Arkansas Development

John Roberts — president — J.B. Hunt Dedicated Contract Services

Bruce Johanson — partner — Johanson Consulting Inc.

*Board chairman

Source: LifeSource International Inc.