Foundation News & Events:

(January 2010)

First Annual Chocolate & Wine Pairing Event

Holiday Supply Drive Update

The Foundation's 6th annual holiday supply drive was a success!  Items were delivered to ACH on December 21.  More details and pictures coming soon!

(November 2009)

Sixth Annual Holiday Supply Drive - November 12 - December 18

The Foundation is collecting items for critically ill babies currently in the neonatal intensive care unit at Arkansas Children’s Hospital and the families of these babies.  The Foundation also collects items to support NICU programs at the hospital and to replenish the supplies of needed items throughout the year. 

The public is encouraged to participate. Drop boxes will be located at Bassett Law Firm, 221 N. College Avenue in Fayetteville, and at Dr. Scott Bell, DDS offices, 2680 W. Joyce Blvd in the Paradise Valley Center.  Individuals or businesses wishing to donate may also contact the Foundation by emailing info@jacksongraves.org or calling (479) 466-6103 to schedule drop off or pick up of items.  Deadline is December 18th. 

Suggested items include:

For families – travel sized toiletries, games, books and toys for waiting room, long distance phone cards, gift certificates for restaurants, Wal-Mart, and gasoline, disposable cameras, DVD’s, pocket photo albums, and scarves and gloves;  

For babies – blankets, board books, bottles, sippy cups, crib toys, mobiles, swings, bouncy seats, and preemie clothing.  

The Foundation will also accept cash donations to be used to purchase additional items for the drive.

(June 2009)

Red, White & Baby Blue was a HUGE success!

Presented By:

Thank you to all who attended this year's event!  We raised nearly $20,000 and had more than 150 people in attendance.  This includes the funds raised from a special appeal to purchase a recliner for the Arkansas Children's Hospital NICU.  The appeal brought in enough to fund 3 chairs for the NICU!  Definitely our best event to date and it would not have been possible without our sponsors, event partners, and our guests. 

A summary of the evening's program may be found here.

Gold Sponsor:

Silver Sponsor:

Larry Bittle Insurance Agency

Media Sponsors:

Table Sponsors:

Woody Bassett
Bledsoe Family
Garrison Asset Management
Remington Products

Event Partners:

Anheuser Busch
Constellation Wines
Harps Foods, Inc
Sam's Club, Fayetteville

(November 2008)

Foundation Announces $125,000 Donation to Arkansas Children's Hospital

The Jackson L. Graves Foundation has announced a donation of $125,000 to Arkansas Children’s Hospital Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. 

Mitzi Traxson, Managing Director of the Foundation, stated that the donation will be utilized in the NICU for the Jackson Lee Graves Sibling Playroom and for the Jackson Lee Graves Room, which will be a private family transitional care room for use by long term infant patients and their families. The private rooms at the NICU will be primarily for infants needing long term, complex care, providing personal space for the patient and family and allowing a family to stay with their baby.

“It is the hope of the Jackson L. Graves Foundation that this funding will continue the ‘baby steps’ we are making toward truly innovative specialty neonatal intensive care for sick babies like Jackson ,” said Angie Graves of Fayetteville. “This funding opportunity will allow us to make significant progress toward one of our primary goals for the Foundation, and we are extremely excited to see this project get started.” Graves and her husband, James, are the founders of the JLG Foundation and the parents of Foundation inspiration, Jackson Graves.

“James and Angie, through their Foundation, have been wonderful friends to our NICU since Jackson’s death.  Their heartfelt gifts inspire our staff, our physicians and other donors.  We are truly thankful for their support and vision as we improve our care of critically ill neonatal infants,” said John Bel, President of the Arkansas Children’s Hospital Foundation.

The JLG Foundation is a charitable organization dedicated to improving care for infants in need of complex medical attention and to providing important support resources to families of those patients. In the three years since its inception, the Foundation has agreed to donations of money and goods for programs supporting infant and toddler patients and their families totaling nearly $200,000.

Due to the nature of most infants requiring intensive care, NICU's are primarily geared to short stays. Babies with complex, long-term medical conditions and surgical needs make up a smaller percentage of the overall NICU population. The mission of the foundation is to provide funding for support services for the families of these infants, and for the creation of special care for these long term babies, with quieter areas, smaller doctor/patient ratios, a stable set of primary care nurses and doctors dedicated to their specialized care, and equipment geared toward their growing bodies.

FOUNDATION FUNDS $30,000 PROJECT FOR ARKANSAS CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL NEONATAL INTENSIVE CARE UNIT

We are very excited to announce that the Foundation recently added an additional $15,000 to funds it previously donated to Arkansas Children’s Hospital for the purchase of state-of-the-art communication devices. The devices will eliminate the need for noisy intercoms and phones in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), by providing hands free, private voice communication between NICU medical personnel. 

The funding of the Vocera Communication System marks the Foundation’s largest impact project to date.  We are thrilled to be making such a tangible difference in the day to day operations of the NICU!  

As NICU nurse Audra Hutchins explains, “The intercom system we currently have is so frustrating-not just for the secretaries and the nurses -but for the parents and visitors as well. The secretary will frequently have to try the intercom at least twice before the nurses can hear them, and vice versa.” 

Dana Fugitt, Assistant Director of the NICU, adds, "The implementation of the Vocera system will be a great step taken in our attempt to make things more comfortable for not only the babies, but the families. One of the most frequently mentioned negative aspects of an NICU is the noise level. Anything we can do to help lessen that stressor for both the families and the babies is just another thing we can control in a world of many uncontrollable stressors." 

Not only will the devices improve noise levels, but according to Dr. Robert Lyle, NICU Co-Medical Director, the system will “improve the timeliness of care leading to better outcomes for our babies” which has become an additional necessity due to the constant expansion of the NICU.  He adds, “We are certainly most excited to hear that the Jackson Graves Foundation is funding the acquisition of the Vocera communication devices for the NICU staff at Arkansas Children’s Hospital.  This gracious financial support is substantial and we greatly appreciate the passion of the Foundation for our mission and the hard work and effort to raise these funds.”

We could not have made this gift without the generous support of our donors.  If you would like more information about how you can help fund future projects, please see our "How You Can Help" page or contact the Foundation at info@jacksongraves.org. 

Buy A Foundation Ballcap And Bumper Sticker
The Foundation has new ballcaps and static cling bumper stickers featuring the Foundation logo. The hats are khaki colored with the green emblem of the Foundation and the name of the Foundation in black, all embroidered on the hat. The Foundation also continues to have silicone armbands and Houndstooth Clothing cotton T-shirts, both with the phrase “Jackson 's Angels,” on them. The armbands are baby blue, and are much like the Lance Armstrong yellow arm bracelets. The T-shirts are gray with the Foundation colors on them, and they also have the "Memories to Magic" slogan on the back. Contact us now, either by email at info@jacksongraves.org or by telephone at 479-466-8339, to place your order. The armbands are five dollars each; t-shirts are ten dollars; hats are twelve dollars. All proceeds will go to the Foundation for its projects.

Electronic Donation/Payment Option
The Foundation can now accept online donations by credit card! Just go to the "How You Can Help" page and click the "Make a Donation" button in the Giving section.  You will be taken to the PayPal website where you will be able to make a secure online donation using your credit card.  A PayPal account is not needed.

We are now able to offer an automatic draft of your bank account.  All you have to do is provide us with your banking information, an amount, and how often you'd like to donate and we'll get it set up.  Please contact the Foundation for more information or to take advantage of this convenient option.

If you have any questions about making a donation electronically, just email us at info@jacksongraves.org to let us know, and we will happily answer your questions.  

Stay tuned. More to come . . .