Jeff Pearson has a lot of stories to tell, but he spends a lot of time listening.
In a shared and crowded office in the backroom of Compassion 479, Pearson said he doesn't need an office as the space around him fills up with donations to the thrift store that offers financial support to the food pantries operated through Feed 479.
The donations also provide materials needed for other aspects of Compassion 479's outreach that include assistance to foster families, individuals returning from incarceration, people facing medical issues and the homeless.
The former senior vice president and CFO of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital who is now executive director of We Are 479 said that he wanted to simplify the nonprofit's story.
"When I got here, I saw that we were Compassion NWA and Feed 479, and I'm thinking, 'OK, we can describe this area of the world in two different ways and we selected both,'" Pearson joked. Under his direction, the two combined under the same umbrella: We Are 479.
"One of the things that we did when I was at St. Jude is we wrapped everything around one similar look," he said in reference to the child's silhouette. "Anytime you see a St. Jude ad on TV or in print or on a billboard, you don't have to read 'St. Jude' in order for you to look up there and know what it is."
He hopes that We Are 479's new logo, a blue outline of Arkansas with the numbers 479 in the center, immediately evokes who they are: a nonprofit dedicated to helping people.
For Pearson, that starts by listening to the stories of those who need help and finding ways to do that without stripping away their dignity.
One way is by letting people choose their own food from the pantry at 3157 W. Sunset Ave. in Springdale -- the back of Compassion 479 thrift store.
Pearson said that has been the case since before he arrived here in Northwest Arkansas. Staff learned that handing out uniform boxes of food meant that some food was wasted because people didn't like it or just couldn't eat it.
"We set up a pantry like a grocery store and they come in and based on the number of the people in their family, they can get a certain number of desserts, a certain number bread [loaves], a certain number of canned goods, and dry goods and proteins ... they get to select what they want," Pearson said. "There's a choice in there, and we feel like that does add to the dignity of the process."
Charity Holman, director of operations for We Are 479, remembers a breast cancer survivor who needed to eat organic food as part of her treatment. Pearson said that some folks who come in don't have access to stoves or microwaves, so they can't give them food that needs to be prepared in a kitchen.
They find out what people need through a check-in process. Upon the first visit, staff ask for the recipient's name, address and birthday which they verify with identification. Then they ask for the names and birthdays of people living in their household.
"We ask for income (to determine if they qualify for USDA commodities) and if they get USDA commodities from anywhere else," Pearson said. "We ask for income information but we don't ask for documentation to verify."
Pearson said that they also offer people reservations at the pantry, similar to how one arranges an online grocery pickup, which has helped them distribute food to people who have jobs and can't make it during regular hours or people who have other issues but still need help. People may even go online and make the selections.
What people need guides the mission of Compassion 479 and continues to expand the nonprofit, but trying to understand what people may need is also an aim, which is how the organization started loaning out medical equipment.
When out antiquing with his wife Mindy, a physical therapist, Pearson said they saw a transfer table. His wife knew someone would need it and that often Medicaid and Medicare don't cover the costs. As a result, Compassion 479 loans out all sorts of equipment including walkers, crutches, handrails and even toilet seats that have been cleaned and are ready to be loaned those who need them.
"We just loan it to people if they want it and ask them, 'When you're through with it, bring it back,'" he said. "Some of them will, some of them won't, but we at least got to bless one family with it, and if they bring it back we get to bless a second family with it."
Even before the program began in February, he says they were loaning out equipment to people and are acquiring more.
Another new program focuses on ways to assist foster families. Pearson said the program began shortly after he moved to Northwest Arkansas and couldn't find a twin bed for a family.
"We had somebody who needed something and we couldn't provide it," he said. "And again, just like the medical equipment, we started gathering things that we thought the foster and adoption community would need."
They found that many foster kids enter the system with few possessions, which they would carry in a black plastic trash bag from one home to another.
"The first thing we do is give them a suitcase," Pearson said. "It's theirs [whether] they stay with this foster family for two days, two months, two weeks or two years. They leave with a suitcase that's theirs. We fill it full of clothes. If they want to come and select the clothes themselves, they can from our inventory."
They also provide personal hygiene products, as well as open the pantry to the family.
Pearson added that they also give snack packs to the foster children as a reassurance.
"We found that [some] would get up in the middle of the night and go into the kitchen of the family that's fostering them, take food and hide it in their bedroom because they didn't know if they would get fed the next day," Pearson said. "We give them a snack pack that is massive and we tell the foster family, 'This goes in the child's room, so when they wake up in the middle of the night, they look over and they see food. They don't have to go get it themselves. They see the food. They have it in their room. It's theirs to do whatever they want to with."
In 2022, they started working with Returning Home, a faith-based organization that aids former prisoner re-entry to society.
"It's more uniquely tied to them than what we do for foster families," he said. To help people set up a home, they donate baskets with silverware, plates, towels and other things.
Despite the heartbreaking stories that lead people to their doors, Pearson said that there are success stories.
"There are stories of people who used (to receive food) that are now volunteering for us by helping people in the food line," Pearson said. "Every time that happens, Northwest Arkansas is a better place because we took somebody out of the point of need to a point of giving. That's a beautiful transition to be able to orchestrate."
He hopes that the new logo lets people know who they are helping out when they donate too. Currently, they are working with area restaurants to leave cards with a QR code and a description of their aim. Pearson believes it will make it easier for people to learn about the organization and donate time or money.
"What I wanted to do was be able to tell that story but tell that story in a way that people would recognize who's telling the story and not be confused by the disparity of the brand."
Find out how to donate, volunteer or receive services at weare479.com.
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FYI
We Are 479
A 501 c3 nonprofit organization that provides both choice and mobile food pantries as well as other outreach services to those in need in Northwest Arkansas. We Are 479 is an umbrella for both the food pantry -- Feed 479, the thrift store -- Compassion 479 and the other services offered through the nonprofit at 3157 Sunset Ave. in Springdale.
Feed 479 pantry service hours:
Mondays and Tuesdays: 4-6:30 p.m.
Wednesday and Thursdays: 9-11:30 a.m.
An ID is required to register for services, no income verification is needed.
Providing fresh food that people may choose for themselves not only allows the recipient to maintain their dignity, but also allows for people with special diets to receive food. People receiving food from the pantry include cancer patients who are assigned special diets and people who lack access to a stove or even a microwave. Pearson said that they try to account for whatever situation the recipient is facing. (NWA Democrat-Gazette/JT Wampler)
"What I wanted to do was be able to tell that story but tell that story in a way that people would recognize who's telling the story and not be confused by the disparity of the brand," Pearson said in his shared office space at the back of the thrift store at 3157 Sunset Ave. The nonprofit recently started collecting medical equipment to loan to those who need it. (NWA Democrat-Gazette/JT Wampler)
The new logo for the Feed 479 food pantry has the same design as the Compassion 479 so that people will recognize the connection between the organizations. (NWA Democrat-Gazette/Monica Hooper)FYI
We Are 479
A 501 c3 nonprofit organization that provides both choice and mobile food pantries as well as other outreach services to those in need in Northwest Arkansas. We Are 479 is an umbrella for both the food pantry — Feed 479, the thrift store — Compassion 479 and the other services offered through the nonprofit at 3157 Sunset Ave. in Springdale.
Feed 479 pantry service hours:
Mondays and Tuesdays: 4-6:30 p.m.
Wednesday and Thursdays: 9-11:30 a.m.
An ID is required to register for services, no income verification is needed.