Aaron and Jaye T. Marshall Give $250,000 to Arkansas Children’s Northwest

(Fayetteville, AR) February 7, 2017- Grateful business owner Aaron Marshall and his wife Jaye T. are giving $250,000 to Arkansas Children’s Northwest. Aaron is the President and CEO of BCS, which specializes in retail infrastructure electronic repair and refurbishment, logistics, warehousing and project management.

At 18-months old, Aaron received open-heart surgery in a pediatric facility in Los Angeles to correct a congenital heart defect. Philanthropy provided the Marshall family access to the lifesaving care Aaron needed to repair his heart. 

“With my personal connection to the lifesaving care provided by a children’s hospital, it’s important to me and my family to have care close to home and Arkansas Children’s Northwest will provide access to pediatric healthcare to all children in the region,” explains Aaron. “Being a parent of three healthy children, I have a better understanding of the sacrifices my parents went through to ensure I received quality care. I wanted to give back in a way that would honor my parents.”

The Marshalls gift will celebrate the life of Aaron’s mother Genola R. Marshall with a butterfly garden located on the grounds of Arkansas Children’s Northwest. Features of the 37-acre park-like campus will include the Genola R. Marshall butterfly garden, the Karen and Darren Horton Outdoor Dining Terrace, the Amelia Faulk Labyrinth and Nature Trail and the Barbara and Randal Tyson Garden.

“My mother was very strong in her faith and blue butterflies were a special sign to her in the last few months of her life,” says Aaron. 

In August 2016, Arkansas Children’s announced a public campaign to raise funds for Arkansas Children’s Northwest. To date, Arkansas Children’s has announced the following gifts as part of the Care Close to Home campaign:

• Tyson Family and Tyson Foods, Inc.,  $15 million
• Walmart and Walmart Foundation, $8 million
• Robin and Gary George, Cathy and David Evans and their families, $7.5 million
• J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc., $5 million
• Will Golf for Kids and Color of Hope, $5 million
• Walton Family Foundation in honor of Amelia Faulk, $3 million
• Endeavor Foundation, $2 million
• Fadil Bayyari Family, $1 million
• Joanie and Jon Dyer, $1 million
• Cynthia and Kirk Dupps, $1 million
• Robin and Gary George, $1 million
• The estate of Mildred and Jarrell Gray, $1 million
• Karen and Darren Horton, $1 million
• J.B. and Johnelle Hunt Family,  $1 million
• Premier Concepts, Inc., $1 million
• Schmieding Foundation, $1 million
• Anstaff Bank, $250,000
• Central States Manufacturing, $250,000
• Bikes, Blues and BBQ, $200,000
• Black Hills Energy, $100,000

Arkansas Children’s Northwest is being built on 37 acres of land donated by Robin and Gary George, Cathy and David Evans and their families -- a gift valued at $7.5 million. The campus is centrally located on I-49 between Don Tyson Parkway and Highway 412, across from Arvest Ballpark. The project is expected to cost $427.7 million in construction, technology, equipment, and operating expenses over the next five years, and will create 250 new jobs.

“We are grateful to the Marshall family for their continued support of Arkansas Children’s,” says Fred Scarborough, chief development officer for Arkansas Children’s. “Their heartfelt gift will provide joy and beauty as Arkansas Children’s Northwest transforms the delivery of pediatric healthcare in the region.”

Arkansas Children’s Northwest is being designed by Polk Stanley Wilcox Architects of Fayetteville and Little Rock, Ark., and FKP Architects of Houston, Texas. Nabholz Construction is overseeing construction. The campus is an integral part of Arkansas Children’s Hospital’s plan to transform the health of children in Arkansas by expanding access to pediatric services across the region.