One of my most memorable Soirée events wasn’t a gala, ball, fundraiser or luncheon. It was a simple mother/daughter get-together in December 2003. The date was chosen so that guests could do some shopping in the Heights neighborhood and drop by for some refreshments.
The hostesses were Rebecca McDowell and her daughters, Allison and Laura Justiss. I remember the warm greeting, and as it always is in Arkansas, we found we had mutual acquaintances, which meant that we would be friends.
On the night of the Heart Ball in February 2007, I was seated at Dr. Ricardo and Eileen Sotomora’s table. Dr. Sotomora brought the idea of the Sweethearts to the Little Rock chapter of the American Heart Association (AHA), and the first class was presented in 1998. It was a success.
The couple also began to honor the Sweetheart who achieved the most service hours in less than a year by volunteering at multiple hospitals in Little Rock. The Sotomoras did not reveal the winner. When the announcer called out the name of Allison Justiss, I was thrilled for her and her family. Allison put in over 300 hours, almost doubling the amount earned by previous recipients. This was no small feat, and the audience gave her thundering applause.
Allison took on every challenge, whether it was sports, art, music or dancing. If she didn’t reach a goal for something she wanted, she came back the next year prepared to win.
Four months after the Heart Ball, Allison died in a car accident.
Allison’s family—Rebecca and Al McDowell, Laura Justiss Zehr, and Alex and John Justiss—established a foundation to perpetuate her memory as the recipient of the 2007 Sotomora Service Award. The Allison Justiss Endowment Fund provides a $5,000 college scholarship each year to an outstanding Sweetheart in the AHA Sweetheart Program. By providing this scholarship, her family hopes to inspire Sweethearts to share the joy Allison received from volunteering and the service she provided to others.
The endowment fund is administered by the Arkansas Community Foundation.