The 2020 Sandra Wilson Cherry Award virtual fundraiser is helmed by chairpersons Dorothy Morris and Rush Harding. Named after the late U.S. Attorney and former president of the Arkansas Bar Association, The Sandra Wilson Cherry Award is bestowed upon a woman who is a role model for the women that The Gaines House serves. This year, the recipient of that distinction is AY’s Editor-at-large Lisa Fischer, for her work to help destigmatize mental illness and addiction.  

 Fischer shares her story candidly: She was raised with alcoholic parents, and her mother died by an accidental overdose when Fischer was 12. She then moved to Arkansas where she was taken in by her cousins, the Gibsons, in Dermott. 

“I grew up with a dysfunctional, alcoholic mother who battled mental illness,” she recalls. “It wasn’t until I was an adult that I could understand that. Her depression, fueled by a night of drinking and taking painkillers, ended her life. If she had known about an option like The Gaines House, I wonder if her life would’ve turned out the way it did. The women at The Gaines House are in need of a safe place to call home, without judgment on their past or current circumstances.  The Gaines House gives them the time they need to get away from their current situation, whether that be from abuse, addiction or personal/mental problems.”

Established in 1967, The Gaines House is a Little Rock nonprofit transitional living residence that provides housing for homeless women who are afflicted with a mental, physical, or behavioral health disability. The organization and its live-in services provide a safe and supportive environment that aims to assist and prepare these women for independent living.