Page 20 - June/June HER 2020

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the news otherwise,” she said. Keeping a vital nonprofit such as Jackson House afloat during such uncertain times does not even begin to scratch the surface of all the work Smith does to keep the homeless and “working-poor” families in the community from “fall(ing) off the (hypothetical) cliff and hit(ing) the rocks below.” Smith’s father originally found- ed the nonprofit while she was still in high school. However, it was never her desire to carry on her father’s legacy. She decided to carve out her own path as a mis- sionary’s daughter to pursue high- er education. She initially studied
social work and mental health. Eventually, she stopped pursu- ing her master’s degree and began working as an executive director in Brinkley. At the time, she was the youngest female executive di- rector of a nonprofit in Arkansas. She continued working at various nonprofits until 20 years ago when Jackson House needed a new exec- utive director, and the board had
their sights set on Smith.
“I grew up with Dad in the mis-
sion work and really just wasn’t interested. I finally agreed that I would just kind of run the busi- ness because they needed some-
one who really knew how to do that. I had already been a director three or four times so, of course, I could do that,” she said.
Over the years, Smith has seen the needs increase across the commu- nity. Many of the individuals and families she has on file are what she calls “working poor.” This refers to individuals and families who work multiple jobs to make ends meet, yet still, come up short from time to time. In response to seeing the growth in need, Smith began working on grant writing and different programs Jackson House could offer to help ease the load.
After learning about the prevalent food insecurity in Garland County, Smith recruited one of the Jackson House Food Pantry volunteers, Ted Thomson, to spearhead Project HOPE Food Bank. This gave the small- er food pantries in churches and nonprofits an affordable way to stay stocked when donations run low.
Her work with the food banks in town has helped create a large net- work of organizations keeping people in the community fed who would otherwise go without. She also helped facilitate Christmas gift and warmth item drives, backpack drives filled with school supplies that a local church later took on, and created a network of the social service programs offered in the area.
“It’s just a lot and it takes all this working together. When somebody calls me now and they have a half a truckload of corn that they couldn’t sell locally to the grocers, then I can say, ‘You know what? down just down the street is Project HOPE. You can take that there.’ She can send out one group email, let everybody know they can all come in there, and they can give all that food away and in just have seen a couple of hours,” Smith said.
Networking is a large part of her work. If a client comes to Jackson House seeking assistance that Smith cannot provide, but she knows an organization that can, she puts that person in contact with the proper social service program to meet their needs. She is constantly communi- cating with different nonprofits, food banks, charitable clinics, and those looking to volunteer time and resources.
“I’m coordinating with different nonprofits all over town, even all across the state at all times. Sometimes in the nonprofit world there’s
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