Update: As of 3/28, we have met 30% of our fundraising goal!

Friends of the River Valley Home, a grassroots coalition of Russellville area community leaders, has launched a fundraising campaign to keep the only free-standing inpatient hospice center in the River Valley open.

Team Leadership includes, Jim Bob Humphrey, Chairman, Roy Reaves, Mayor Fred Teague, Arkansas State Senator Breanne Davis, Scott Vanhorn, Bud Gunter, Ben Cross, Dr. Mary Ann Rollans, Becky Beavers, and Debbie Williams.

At a March 20, meeting of concerned citizens, moving stories of the passing of loved ones at the Arkansas Hospice River Valley Home were shared by Roy Reaves, Scott Vanhorn, and Mayor Fred Teague. Encouraged by an outpouring of sentiments on social media, the group resolved to work with Arkansas Hospice and the citizens of Russellville and the Arkansas River Valley to raise the funds needed to save the Hospice House by securing operating funds for the remainder of 2023, and then to begin the long-term work to establish a permanent endowment for the facility.

Phase 1 - Raise $750,000 by April 10, 2023, to meet the operating expense deficit through the end of 2023.

Phase 2 - Once the phase 1 goal has been met, and over the next 5 years, build community awareness and raise funds to sustain the home and establish an endowment capable of funding the operational expense of the River Valley Home into the future, ensuring sustainability for the services this wonderful home has provided while caring for so many families in the River Valley.

Judy Wooten, CEO of Arkansas Hospice and Kim Kirkman, Chief Philanthropy Officer of the Arkansas Hospice Foundation attended the meeting and shared the history of the operations of the facility with the group. Ms. Wooten shared that over 2,000 patients and their families have been cared for at the River Valley Home over the past 11 years. Over that same time period, Arkansas Hospice has subsidized the operating deficits for the River Valley Home at a cost of $8,000,000. As a non-profit organization, Arkansas Hospice provides hospice care in rural areas of our state and to under-served groups such as Veterans by reinvesting the funds that a private or for-profit hospice would take as profits back into their patients' care and into inpatient hospice facilities such as the hospice home.

Arkansas Hospice had been very successful with this model of operating for 30+ years up through 2021. However, Covid dramatically affected their long-used approach to funding the River Valley Home, and they are no longer able to absorb these costs and remain financially sound.

When community leaders learned that the home was set to close on April 15, 2023, a widespread reaction of shock and dismay prompted some citizen leaders including Jim Bob Humphrey, to say, we cannot lose this crown jewel of end-of-life care in the Arkansas River Valley. Scott Vanhorn, whose father and wife passed away at the hospice house, stated we must do whatever is necessary to save this place that means so much to so many.

Please join us in our effort to save this very special place that has served so many patients and families in the River Valley for the last eleven years. Your donations will make a profound impact in our community.

About Arkansas Hospice

Caring since 1992, Arkansas Hospices mission is to enhance the quality of life for those facing serious illness and loss by surrounding them with love and embracing them with the best in physical, emotional, and spiritual care. The hospice care provider is the recipient of numerous local, state, and national awards, as well as numerous other awards for quality of care, including Hospice Honors Elite from HEALTHCAREfirst, as well as the only hospice in Arkansas to be certified by the Arkansas Department of Veterans Affairs for nonprofit service to Arkansas veteran population. For more information, visit https://www.arkansashospice.org.