It's hard to imagine anybody in Northwest Arkansas would be surprised that Northwest Arkansas is growing. Connected to that growth, some very important topics like jobs, infrastructure and housing. Margot Lemaster, executive director of EngageNWA, says there's another very important subject involved with all this growth.
"We really want to highlight this human side of the growth and that people need relationships."
Margot and EngageNWA have organized Welcoming Week NWA for more than 10 years. This year's version is underway. As of today, dozens of events are designed to foster relationships for people in Northwest Arkansas.
"How to get involved and how to contribute, how to be part of something bigger. And we feel like Welcoming Week is a really strong way to create those connections and to build something that doesn't just happen in the month of September. It carries throughout the entire year."
Welcoming Week again this year is a bit of a misnomer. There are community related events throughout the entire month. It's the biggest Welcoming Week schedule yet, continuing an expansion that EngageNWA intentionally sought after the pandemic.
"And we were having so many more issues with social isolation. So we were looking for more opportunities to help make our community more connected."
That expansion is because there are more partners than ever before this year. And again this year. Tomorrow, in fact, there is a teen volunteer fair at the Bentonville Public Library from 4 until 6. Arkansas public school students have to amass 75 volunteer hours between grades nine and 12 to graduate, and this fair brings teens seeking those hours into contact with groups seeking volunteers.
Friday, the Momentary in Bentonville hosts a teen speed friending session from 6 until 8 p.m. Margot Lemaster says there's an adult speed friending event at the Fayetteville Public Library later this month on the 24th. Speed friending is like speed dating, but for friendships. Both of the events will let people seeking friends have multiple quick conversations with strangers that could, if all parties agree, develop into a friendship.
Then on Friday, Sept. 11, the 25th anniversary of the terrorist attacks in New York, D.C. and Pennsylvania, there is a Veterans Appreciation Drive.
"In honor of that, we're going to be hosting a Veterans Appreciation drive that will be supporting Arkansas Veterans Village, a local nonprofit. We'll be doing a donation drive as part of that. That event is going to be at Springdale Public Library from 8 to 9:30 on that Friday morning. And we'll have a panel of veterans who will be speaking and sharing about their experiences. Coffee will be provided by Doomsday, which is a local veteran owned coffee shop here in Northwest Arkansas. So we're excited to be doing that as a new event. And really taking a moment to pause and honor our veterans here."
Another addition this year is the Join a Club crawl from 4 until 6 p.m. at the Rogers Public Library on Sept. 17. This is inspired by the 2023 documentary "Join or Die," from political scientist Robert Putnam.
"And just talks about how important it is for our, not only our social health, but our physical health, our mental health, to be part of something and to have these reoccurring moments of connection in our lives. And so we wanted to make it an opportunity for it to be really easy to find something that you might want to join and to meet the people who are behind this. So we have invited dozens of clubs to come together all in one room. That's going to be Thursday, Sept. 17 at Rogers Public Library. And we hope that the community will come out for this and maybe explore something they've been wanting to do, or maybe find a new club or group that they didn't know existed, but that they can find something to join ultimately is the goal."
All of Welcoming Week, all 30 days of Welcoming Week, tied together by this year's theme, The Places We Share.
"We're really talking about all of the places across the community where people come together, whether that's schools, workplaces, neighborhoods, libraries or other community spaces where people come together to learn, to serve, and are really building connections."
Margot Lemaster is executive director of EngageNWA. Welcoming Week NWA begins today and lasts through September. A full list of events can be found at welcomingweeknwa.org.
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