We Are Here to

serve the community

Holding Hands Resale Shop, located in Oxford, Mississippi, has been serving the community since our founding in 2013. We strive to provide opportunities for those in need in our community by offering employment to people with mental illnesses and disabilities.

Holding Hands Staff
What We Do

Holding Hands Resale Shop’s mission is to provide our employees a safe place to work where they are comfortable and can succeed while feeling good about themselves.

Community Needs

Our founder, Donna Howard, recognized a need in our community as her own daughter experienced difficulties with employment after being diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia in her teens.

Partner

Partner

Our shop partners with other local organizations, including Interfaith Compassion Ministries, Doors of Hope, United Way, Red Cross and Communicare, to provide clothing to clients of those organizations for free.

Volunteer

Volunteer

We also provide volunteer opportunities for students at Ole Miss and church mission groups. If you are looking for community service hours or an opportunity to volunteer, please give us a call!

How It all started

From our Founder, Donna Howard:

Thirty years ago at the age of fifteen, my daughter was diagnosed with chronic paranoid schizophrenia. Finding & keeping a job was part of the challenge of this disease. Few people understand mental illness or are willing to employ people with that diagnosis. In January 2013 I opened Holding Hands Resale Shop with the mission to provide jobs for persons living with mental illness. Years later we are still in business and have been able to employ many people. To sustain our mission we take in donations of furniture, clothing, and household items and resale these items. All the income that is made is used to pay employees and maintain the store. Every cent is kept in Lafayette. While keeping true to our mission, we are able to provide low prices on high-quality merchandise which is helpful to those on a fixed or below poverty level income. We would like to thank the people of Oxford and Lafayette County for your support both through monetary and kind donations. We appreciate your support so that we may continue to provide jobs for those who might otherwise not be able to find work. Please follow us on Facebook. Donations may be made through Venmo.

Volunteer with us!
Volunteer With Us

    Listen, this isn’t a corporate run operation. They have limited space, staff, and resources, but they are a million times better than Goodwill. These kind folks are doing their part to serve the community. The prices fluctuate, the inventory fluctuates, parking can be tricky, but their mission remains the same. Give them a shot. Go as often as you can because the good deals don’t last long. Great folks here.
    Joseph Phillips
    Local Guide
    What they've said about us

    Holding Hands Resale Shop employs persons living with mental illness in a safe work environment, in hopes of helping them to achieve independence & self-respect. Each employee is provided specialized training to their unique abilities ensuring a high level of success and accomplishment.

    Donna Howard Founder Executive Director Holding Hands

    Donna Howard

    Founder & Executive Director
    Our team

    Donna Howard is the founder of Holding Hands Resale Shop. She retired from a full-time radiology career to begin a non-profit thrift store to give her daughter, who has paranoid schizophrenia, a job. Donna had a desire to provide jobs for mentally ill individuals in a safe work environment where they could reach their greatest potential. Holding Hands has been a blessing to the Lafayette-Oxford-University Community and to the employees that it has served. She is quick to give all the credit to the Lord who has made it all possible.