Paul Wineland, Jackson House Thrift Store Manager, directs donors to the drop-off location where all manner of donations are received and processed by volunteers.
By Lana Pierce
Paul Wineland remembers the fire as though it were last night. He heard the fire alarms. He ran from his apartment leaving behind his possessions, his car keys, even his clothes. He ran for his life into the dark winter night wearing shorts and a thin t-shirt. Behind him, the little apartment that had been his very first “home” once leaving home disappeared a few smoky molecules at a time—carried away by round, gray puffing plumes of smoke.
“I lost everything,” he recalls, over 35 years later. The permanence of that profound loss permeates his story, which is recounted slowly, nostalgically.
As fresh as that loss is, and always will be, he also remembers the help he received as a young man trying to rebuild. “I wasn’t old enough to know that ‘renter’s insurance’ was a thing. I didn’t know how to even begin to recover. But I remember the help.”
Though he found bits and pieces around town to get started, it was when he walked through the doors of Jackson House that the foundation of recovery emerged. With that step, rebuilding seemed plausible.
“I told myself that day, when I walked in and they asked me ‘What do you need, what can we do, how can we help?’—that very day—I knew I’d repay them somehow.”
Fast-forward three decades, to a time when Wineland was looking for a way to give back to the local community at large and found himself back on the very same steps he’d stood on as a young man with nothing. “I started by volunteering just a day or two a week.” And that quickly grew into a position managing Jackson House Thrift Store #2, which until the Covid Pandemic, enjoyed a bustling business in an Albert Pike shopping center.
“Then they told me we were scheduled to consolidate,” he retells. At the time, readers may remember, Hot Springs tourism and trade had ground to a stop. Few even ventured outdoors. Businesses froze. Consumerism seized. Second-hand stores were the first to feel the pinch.
“But then I was asked to manage the main store behind the Jackson House. I thought about it; I prayed about it. I took the leap.” And for six years now the community has benefited from his quiet tenacity—a selfless drive rooted in that original loss.
Wineland and Jackson House volunteers receive, sort, and price donations, working to keep the shelves well-stocked at this time of year.
Moving from the satellite store (#2) to the original store brought challenges, but introduced tangible, visible rewards. As manager of Jackson House Thrift Store, Wineland’s task list ranges from coordinating a dedicated volunteer staff to fulfilling up to 10 vouchers per day. (The voucher system allows those in need to come into the store and take immediately needed supplies and clothing free of charge.)
His passion extends far beyond this. Wineland is the face of the store and a multitasker at heart, running the register, collecting donations, and visiting shoppers and clients. On a lucky day, he can count on four volunteers arriving to accept donations, then sort/tag/price those donations.
At least one volunteer will work to keep racks and shelves filled. Other volunteers drive the Jackson House truck to pick up donations. Occasionally, local high school students seeking to fulfill graduation requirements for volunteerism come in. The energetic enthusiasm is a welcome boon to the backstage work needed to keep Jackson House Thrift Store operational.
(As one who has occasionally volunteered in the “sorting/pricing” area of the store, I can attest that as soon as I have felt I was “on top” of the donations a buzzer rings and twice as many donations as I started with are plopped at my feet! It’s the best kind of problem to have!)
There’s something about donating locally that has never been lost on Hot Springs – tax deductible, visible, void of corporate overreach where profits dissolve into management pockets.
At Jackson House, donations are often handed out to local populations in need on the very same day they are donated. Personally, as an occasional volunteer, the most inspiring moments to me have been when a donation arrives at the back door and a volunteer says, “You know so-and-so who comes in here could really use this.” The fact that volunteers remember faces, names, and needs separates the Jackson House from all other local charities.
The charity has been in operation through various forms for almost 50 years. Executive Director Janie Smith has been there for half of that time, carrying on with a vision held by her father, Reverand Harry Woodall, who is credited with naming Jackson House after Eleanor Klugh-Jackson. Eleanor helped establish a crisis hotline long before they existed locally. When she passed away from cancer, the Reverend named the charity in her honor.
Director Smith credits fellow full-timer, Tammy Jones, with being a “Jill of All Trades.” Jones is a licensed EMT and was working as a teacher’s assistant when she joined Jackson House a decade ago. Smith notes that Jones has worked in numerous roles for the organization: from thrift store to administration and everything in between.
The work, undoubtedly, is consistent. Those needing assistance are not, as often assumed, simply unhoused. Patrons include the working poor, the elderly, children, and disaster victims.
Two hundred lunches each day are available, six days per week. This is in addition to the food pantry, the Christmas gift program, and all the logistical help to find housing, medicine, and bus passes.
The voucher system has minimal requirements. Each recipient must be a Garland County resident, hold a valid ID, and must fill out a voucher form. (Emergency food and clothing are available for those in extenuating circumstances.) For more information on these programs, you can reach out in person, by phone, or through their website.
In December, according to Wineland, the donations are nonstop. Sadly, that momentum all but dies in the following two months—when many locals need that help most. Of import is warm clothes (especially children’s and men’s sizes). Spring cleaning a little early at your home could provide the items needed most during January and February: gloves, hats, scarves, socks, underwear, boots, linens, towels, blankets, and the like.
A special word to local businesses and individuals prior to tax season. The Jackson House is a non-profit entity and donations are tax deductible. To donate, pull around to the back of the Thrift Store. Volunteers are ready to unload your car and will issue a receipt on-site. Monetary donations are always appreciated, and volunteerism is encouraged. To contact the Jackson House Thrift Store for more information, refer to the contact information listed here: Online: www.jacksonhouse.org. By Phone: 501-623-6641. In Person: 212 Jefferson Street (behind the historic Jackson House) Hours are Monday-Friday 10-4.
Lana Pierce is a 19-year veteran of the NLRFD who lives in Hot Springs and owns RetroFit. (Photography by Pam Clark.)
