StoneWorks Agency hosts yard sale to raise funds for vets
StoneWorks Agency, a nonprofit organization dedicated to assisting veterans and their families, will host a yard sale today and Saturday from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. to raise funds for local veterans.
The yard sale will take place at StoneWorks Agency’s future home at 121 Grove St., a news release from the organization said. Currently without any office space, Sheryl Talbert, the executive director, has been meeting and working from various locations, including the Garland County Library.
The pandemic “kind of shut us down, but not completely,” she said. “I’ve still been able to do a lot of things over the phone, utilizing the computer, just helping as much as I could.”
The organization received all of the yard sale items through donations. Items include a gas stove, furniture, electronics, books, dishes, pots, pans, linens and knickknacks. All items are priced low and negotiable, the release said.
The money raised from the sale will go towards providing veterans with resources, including gas cards, food or other basic needs.
“We try and help with some of those little things that maybe they don’t have enough funding to do,” Talbert said.
Established in 2011 and officially a 501(c)3 organization since 2012, StoneWorks Agency hopes to move into the building on Grove Street by September, Talbert said. Last year, the board president, who owned the historic building, was murdered, she said.
“The building was his, but he was giving it to us. So we’re dealing with all the probate stuff. We’re still going to be in the building and that’s where we’re doing the sale.”
As the founder of StoneWorks, Talbert said she started it because she saw a need that wasn’t being met.
“The thing that I noticed is that people coming out of prison and veterans were the two groups that everyone thought they were getting a lot of attention, but they don’t,” she said. “They’re kind of the two populations that slip through the cracks.”
StoneWorks helps former inmates as well as veterans. Services the organization offers include help securing employment, housing issues, Veteran
Affairs paperwork, and securing benefits for spouses and children of veterans.
“A lot of women don’t realize if they were married to a long-term veteran and he passes away, they’re still eligible for benefits,” Talbert said. “We help the children because a lot of time their kids don’t realize that there’s also school benefits that they can tap into.
“They served for us, and we need to help them. They should be getting top priority on everything.”
According to the agency’s informational brochure, it partners with many other organizations, including Arkansas Workforce Center, the Department of Veteran Affairs, National Park College, Veterans Upward Bound, Webb Community Center, Jackson House, Arkansas Department of Corrections, Ouachita Behavioral Health and Wellness and Veterans Community Partnership of the Ouachitas.