Donna Howard quit her job as a radiology director to open Holding Hands Resale Shop in Oxford, Mississippi to provide employment for people with mental illnesses like her daughter Cassie who has paranoid schizophrenia. The shop employs 8 people including Cassie and has been very successful due to generous donations from the local community who support its mission. It has provided Cassie with a kind work environment where she feels treated better than her previous job.

1. A cause that hits close to home
OXFORD, MISS.—A series of fortuitous events led Donna Howard to quit her job as
radiology director at Booneville Baptist Hospital and venture into the business world.
“I make half what I made then, and I work twice as many hours,” said Donna Howard of
Oxford, Miss., founder and owner of Holding Hands Resale Shop. While the occupation change
may seem drastic to some, her decision to enhance her daughter’s quality of life was necessary.
“I feel like God is really, really in this,” she said.
Her daughter, Cassie Howard, 39, of Oxford, Miss., was diagnosed with chronic Paranoid
Schizophrenia at the age of 14. As a young girl, Cassie Howard traveled from Columbia
University in New York City to the University of California, Los Angeles eventually finding a
suitable medication to help her mental illness. “For one year, it was very rough,” said Donna
Howard.
With time, her illness became more manageable, and Cassie Howard began to look for
employment. “She worked at Kroger,” said Donna Howard. “But everyday she said, ‘I hate my
job. I hate my job’.” Cassie Howard’s co-workers at Kroger couldn’t understand that she still
had the social skills of a teenager, the stage at which her disease developed.
After visiting a thrift store in Nashville, Tenn. devoted to providing jobs for people with
autism, Donna Howard was inspired to create the same employment opportunities for mentally
ill men and women in her hometown.
After receiving a generous donation from a co-worker at Booneville Baptist Hospital,
Donna opened Holding Hands Resale Shop on January 1, 2013. Holding Hands, located at 2618
West Oxford Loop, sells everything from clothes to books to furniture. The business now has

2. eight employees, including Cassie Howard. “I like it here. I get treated a little better than
Kroger,” she joked.
Donna Howard credits other Oxford citizens and organizations for the success of Holding
Hands. “The people of Oxford have been very, very generous. Everybody is very supportive of
the cause.”
Even before the shop opened its doors, local businesses donated their resources to turn
her dream into reality. Stout’s Carpet, Inc. donated carpet, Farrell-Calhoun donated paint, and a
local businessman paid to have all of the shelves built.
Donna Howard was most overwhelmed in 2014 when the Young Professionals of
Oxford, a group connected with the Chamber of Commerce, selected Holding Hands as the
Charity of the Year. Young Professionals went in half with Cannon Motors, providing Donna
Howard with a much-needed truck to haul donations from their source back to the store.
The generosity displayed by Oxford citizens matches the uplifting nature of Holding
Hands Resale Shop. “It’s easy going here,” said Cassie Howard. “People are nice.”