Page 21 - June/June HER 2020

21 JUNE HER
competition for the dollar, competition for the grants, competition for the donor, all that. I don’t approach it that way. I never have, and I have always been in nonprofit work. We do better, we make a better impact when we work together,” she said.
The summer months, especially, are very busy for the Jackson House. With children out of school, Smith said parents are having to provide child care and at least 14 extra meals per child each week. Many of the people who utilize the food bank at Jackson House are not regulars, ac- cording to Smith. They are mostly people who have found themselves in difficult situations brought on by unexpected expenses like car troubles or medical bills.
“I know that the schools have stepped up as far as running their bus routes and they’re delivering food. They bring us their leftovers,” Smith said. “They have perishables just like any other restaurant. If we don’t use it that day, by tomorrow it will be gone. We have a quick turnover.”
One of Smith’s biggest means of reaching the community is by utiliz- ing Facebook. She will post items needed or items available on her own timeline and in different community groups, and her friends share the post, in turn, spreading the word around town. Typically, the donations they receive are distributed within a day.
“If people donate a car to me, and that’s happened several times, I can take that car and I can reach out to someone. If I sold the car, the value would not be really high. But if I take a working car and I call the Arkansas Single Parent Scholarship Fund of Garland County, we can get that car into the hands of a single parent working towards their degree. I can smoothly move that from the donor to the person in need,” she said.
The people who come to Jackson House seeking assistance have a broad variety of hardships and obstacles they want to overcome, from disabilities to homelessness, and Smith works to help them all.
“If I can give you food today and it’s going to take care of you for a week, you can shift that money that you would have spent on the food, and you can put that in your gas tank so that you can go to work,” Smith said. “Or maybe you’re a senior citizen, and you can’t buy those medi- cines that you’re skipping every other day because you can’t afford them. You’re trying to make one prescription one month go for two.”
HER Cover
“There’s all that go- ing on and maybe just eating lunch here every day, saves you a worker $5 a day. By saving that then that goes in your gas tank, or that takes care of your electric bill at the end of the month. You know, all of every- thing is sort of a barter system anyway. So it’s always a matter of shuf- fling resources to fit ev- ery situation and make it better so that they can go.”
“If you can give somebody a hand up. It’s like if you’re about to fall off the cliff; once you fall off the cliff, and you hit the rocks below, you may never climb back up the cliff. But if you can keep that fall from happening, then you never get down in there and get all dam- aged and destroyed. So even if you’re just hang- ing on by your fingers, if we can keep you from falling off, then you’ll be able to gather yourself and move forward.”
JOINT EFFORT JOINT EFFORT
PHYSICAL THERAPY
FeelBetter.M oveBetter.LiveBetter.
W etreatawiderangeofconditionsandconcerns for patients of all ages:
• Back& N eckPain • A rthritis
• Foot & A nkle P ain
• ShoulderPain
• Post-SurgicalC are
• A uto A ccident Injuries • Sports Injuries
• KneePain
• JointPain & Injuries • W orkplace Injuries
C a l l t o d a y t o s c h e d u l e a n a p p o in t m e n t o r free co n su lta tio n .
M o n d a y - F r id a y 8 a m - 5 p m
1880-C Airport Rd. • 501-781-2701 jephysicaltherapy.com
HER MAGAZINE ¯ JUNE/JULY 2020 21