Keep HSV Beautiful Apr 13 2024

On Saturday morning April 13, 2024 members of the Men's Club met in the church parking lot and prepared to pick up the trash along Balearic Road from Fineza Way all the way to Desoto Blvd.  This is part of the Hot Springs Village "Keep the Village Beautiful" project carried through out the Village several times a year to remove roadside trash.  Volunteers were (l to r) Wilhelm Brahm, Dave Witchger, Reb Henry, Boyd Buckholder, Tom Haessly, Bob Bowman, Chris Deege, Rick Martinek and Oliver Field.  Not pictured was Russ Harrison (the shadow).

Jackson House Donation Dec 2023

2023 St. John School donation

In December the Men's Club made several charitable donations as follows:
$1500    St. John's School
$1500    Our Lady of Fatima School
$1500    Jackson House
$1500    Good Sameritan MInistries
$1000    SHJ Food Basket Program

2023 Good Sameritan donation

2023 Christmas Food Basket Team preparing boxes for pickup

Again this year the Men's Club assisted the Food Basket Committee in picking up six vehicle loads of food from Project Hope Food Bank in Hot Springs and delivering it to the the upper hall.  The following day volunteers filled 52 family food baskets which will be delivered along with presents from the Angel Tree to needy families in our area.

Reb Henry and Bob Bowman filling Christmas Food Boxes

Jackson House Lunches Dec 2023

Sacred Heart of Jesus Men's Club members Phil Stephenson, Russ Harrison and Guy Richardson prepare trays of chicken for the oven and then assembled 150 lunches at Jackson House on Dec. 5, 2023.  Men's Club have been helping prepare and serve lunches on the 1st Tuesday of every month for over 18 years as a community project.

Tammy Jones, Assistant Director of Jackson House, accepts a $1500 donation from Russ Harrison, Men's Club Secretary.  She says that the value of the money is quadrupled when used to purchase food from local food banks to support the daily free lunch program for those in need.

Jackson House Donation Dec 2023

Emily Stubblefield solar eclipse

The Sacred Heart of Jesus Men's Club May meeting hosted our guest speaker Emily Stubblefield, Quachita Park Ranger, who gave a very interesting and educational presentation on a major solar event which will occur in our area next spring.  HSV will be in the total blackout path of a solar eclipse lasting over 4 minutes in the early afternoon of Monday April 8, 2024.  This is a once-in-a-lifetime event for soutwest & central Arkansas.  A solar eclipse is when the path of the moon is directly between you and the sun at the proper distance to totally block the sun's light therefore creating night in the middle of the day.  If you have a open 360 degree view from the middle of a lake or mountain top and the weather is clear you will experience a 360 degree sunset and sunrise.  How cool is that!  It is expected that the Hot Springs area will exeprience an influx of tourism from people chasing the eclipse's path through the state of Arkansas.

Tom Heffer and Matt Lewarn talk Village golf

Our program at the March 14, 2023 meeting featured Tom Heffer, HSV Director of Golf, and Matt Lewarn, Tournament  and Outside Sales Manager.  After enjoying Melinda's delicious chicken dumpling soup served with rolls and a large cookie, Rick Martinek, Program Director, introduced Tom and Matt to the group who brought us up  to date on what the course maintenance crews have been doing this winter to prepare for the 2023 season and how the outside sales of stay-and-play golf packages support revenue growth for the Village.  Tom shared some before & after pictures of reworked sand bunkers on Granada using a new liner process which can be mixed and spread by in-house crews thus reducing overall conversion costs.  The liners are solid but semi porous material which seal rocks below the liner but allows water to drain through the liner.  Bunkers are then refilled with clean sand (no rocks).  This new process should reduce rocks from working their way up out of the soil when the bunkers flood due to heavy rains.  Matt reported on the financial results achieved since the golf package program was instituted to increase annual rounds of golf with outside guests who pay top dollar green fees.  These higher value golf rounds help hold down the property owner costs to play golf on our wonderful courses.

Zack Sykora HSVFD

Zack Sykora, HSV Fire Department, spoke to the Men's Club at the February 2023 meeting concerning the organization, training and orperation of the Village Fire Department.  He was accompanied by 3 fellow firemen who brought their ladder truck so that all could get an up close experience with that piece of equipment.  The Village is served by 4 fire stations with Cortez being the main station.  The department responds to local structure fires, vehicle accidents and rescues inside the Village and assists as needed in the surrounding communities.