The Trees at Waterside provided a perfect setting for the Jingle Mingle

Single Parent Scholarship Fund of Northwest Arkansas (SPSF NWA) rang in the holiday season Thursday, December 2, 2010 at The Trees at Waterside.  Approximately 150 guests dropped in from 6-to-9 p.m. to mix and mingle with board members, scholarship recipients, graduates, staff and supporters of SPSF NWA.

This annual event also serves as a fundraiser and will bring in approximately $20,000 in end-of-year giving for the scholarship fund.  SPSF NWA Board Chair Justin DeLille welcomed the crowd and introduced scholarship recipient Toni Beeman and graduate Amy Jamison-Casas, who spoke about the significance of the scholarship in their families’ lives.

Amy Jamison-Casas tells her SPSF NWA story

Jamison-Casas wowed the crowd with her testimony of now giving back to the scholarship fund with an automatic withdrawal each month and increasing the amount of her giving each year.

In his remarks to guests, DeLille offered the following statistics:

• This year SPSF NWA distributed 287 scholarship awards worth over $316,000
• 36 of SPSF NWA scholarship recipients graduated in 2010
• The average GPA from SPSF NWA recipients in 2010 was a 3.2, and 22% of SPSF NWA fall students had a 4.0 grade point average
• SPSF NWA retention and graduation rate overall in 2009 was 93%.

Board member Brandy Tuft, with her husband Eric

The Jingle Mingle is SPSF NWA’s annual holiday event to celebrate the season and thank donors and community partners for giving the gift of education.  In addition to automatic withdrawal, supporters were encouraged to “give the gift of education” in honor or memory of a loved one for Christmas.  SPSF NWA will be sending holiday cards to those loved ones, as well as a hand-written thank you note from a current scholarship recipient.

Guests jingled to the jazz of The Claudia Burson Trio and mingled with hors d’oeuvres by Catering Concepts: pan-seared, herb-crusted pork tenderloin, Cajun roast beef, chicken bistro cakes, smoked salmon dip, spinach feta tartlets, stuffed mushrooms and an array of cheeses and desserts.  Wine was sponsored by Liquor World. University of Arkansas men and women of Sigma Chi and Kappa Kappa Gamma, respectively, served as volunteers.