Nagel announces Cork and Fork date
The Arthur Nagel Community Clinic Executive Director Chuck Lutke and Board of Directors President Barbara M. Shepard recently announced the linic’s eighth annual Cork and Fork fundraising event will take place Saturday, November 12, 2022, at The Farm Country Club.
“Cork & Fork, sold out each year since 2019, will honor America’s veterans, bestow a Hometown Hero Award for service to the community, and raise funds to help underwrite primary health care delivered by the Clinic to families in need in Bandera county,” read a press release from the clinic. “Each year, twenty percent of the Clinic’s operating budget is provided by the local community.”
Executive Director Chuck Lutke said, “The theme for this year’s Cork & Fork is ‘All-American Barn Dance,’ a nod to the popular country music radio program started in 1924 by mega-watt station WLS in Chicago and copied by other stations. The Barn Dance created by WSM in Nashville eventually became the Grand Ole Opry. This will be a spectacular night with the common goal of friends connecting, celebrating, and supporting the Nagel Clinic.”
Board of Directors President Barbara Shepard said, “Fourteen years ago, Bandera County answered the call of our founder, Arthur Nagel, to create a nonprofit clinic to provide care for our most vulnerable families. He would be enormously proud of the longevity and vitality of the Nagel Clinic. Our Board, staff, and volunteers look forward to welcoming you to this wonderful celebration of your Clinic in November.”
Lutke also disclosed the Hometown Hero honors in 2022 will go not to one but to four very deserving women who have made it their mission to provide the best medical care – including the past two and a half years of the pandemic – for our children and youth at each of the Bandera ISD’s four campuses: Trenna Fitzpatrick, R.N., B.S.N. at Bandera High School; Toni L. Serene, R.N. at Bandera Middle School; Shirley Nichols, R.N., B.S.N. at Alkek Elementary School; and Shanna Wilke, R.N. at Hill Country Elementary School.
Special musical guest artist, Weldon Henson, in his Cork & Fork debut, will bring his “Texas Made Honky Tonk” sound that delivers soulful modern country music mixed with traditional honky tonk and a shot of Texas swing. Look for a night of full-on dancing.
Catering will be provided by Bandera’s own Chef Aaron Gonzalez, of the celebrated Backyard Bistro. Lively and entertaining Auctioneer Todd Odom will return from last year along with noted Master of Ceremonies, Robert Price, Anchor for WOAI News 4 San Antonio. Tickets to Cork & Fork will go on sale later this summer.
The Nagel Clinic is seeking to expand its Body Mind Spirit counseling program to include group therapy for issues such as grief, addiction, parenting skills, and more. Appointments at the Clinic for mental health counseling have risen in the first six months of the year by 45 percent. The patient-to-mental health provider ratio for Bandera County currently stands at 1,156 to1. Funds contributed at Cork & Fork will help to provide for this expansion.
According to a press release, the mission of the Arthur Nagel Community Clinic is: To improve Bandera County health by providing medical care to eligible residents and promoting health education.
Founded in Bandera, Texas in 2008 by Texas Hill Country businessman Arthur W. Nagel and other concerned, community-minded friends, the Nagel Clinic remains the only 501(c)(3), nonprofit health care provider of its kind in the 800-squaremile, rural county. The Nagel Clinic provides no-cost primary and preventive health care for low-income, medically underserved rural Bandera County individuals and families, ages 12 and older, who live at or below 250% of the Federal Poverty Level.
More information can be found at nagelclinic.org