November 26, 2025 • 9 mins
On this episode of Our American Stories, when Donna’s daughter Cassie was diagnosed with chronic paranoid schizophrenia, everyday life became harder to manage. Donna realized their family needed a different way to live, something that gave Cassie steady structure and gave others with special needs a place to belong. So they opened a resale shop and built it around employment opportunities for special needs adults. What began as a way to help Cassie soon became a workplace where people who often struggle to find special needs employment could feel supported, capable, and needed.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
And we continue with our American stories, and up next,
we're going to hear from Donna Howard tell the story
of her daughter Cassie, who was a teenager was met
with a diagnosis that changed her life. You'll find out
where that diagnosis has led Donna to today, to a
place where she can help not only her daughter Cassie,
(00:31):
but others under similar circumstances, and all while shedding light
on an illness that had kept them in the dark
for so many years.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
I was director of ideology at a hospital here in
Mississippi for many many years. I moved to Arkansas, got married,
had three children, and in nineteen ninety Cassie became ill.
On her fourteenth birthday. It was a Sunday afternoon. I
remember it very well. She came in the kitchen that
(01:01):
day and said, the new kids on the blocker a
singing happy birthday to me through the air conditioner. And
that was AHA moment. I began to think back, and
she had been telling me things and I had not
paid attention. I say this, and I don't think people
really understand when I say she didn't sleep till she
(01:21):
was five years old, And I think now was she
hearing the voices, and that was normal to her. But
there were many many nights we didn't sleep. So I
called the pediatrician and I said, we need to talk
to you, and so we met him at the emergency room,
and after about an hour of him and her talking,
he came out and he said, she's got some serious,
(01:43):
serious issues. She was in and out of hospitals. Then
it took a long time to get a diagnosis because
a lot of doctors didn't know a lot about schizophrenia.
It took us a year. We went out to UCLA
to the Neuropsychiatric Institute, and that's where we got our
diagnosis of chronic paranoid schizophrenia at age fifteen. She was
(02:04):
having such a hard time that year that I don't
think it really resonated with her what chronic paranoid schizophrenia was.
She just knew she was hearing these voices that were
very real to her. It was very scary for her.
It was hard to find anybody to treat her. It
was just a nightmare because I couldn't get any help
(02:25):
and I couldn't find any peace for and I also
had two other children at home. She went to school
until she was in the tenth grade, and I finally
took her out because here she was a quiet, shy
little girl sitting over the corner crying. So after six
months of them calling me every day, you know, we
don't know what to do with her, I finally took
her out of school. So I had to stay home
(02:46):
and take care of her and educate myself on what
to expect and how to handle what we were going through.
It was extremely difficult time because you didn't talk about
My family wouldn't talk to me about it. They didn't
really understand it. And that's when we decided she needed
to get a job that that might help. And we
tried many jobs, and I even paid one place to
(03:09):
let her work there. I paid them just to let
her come in and clean their equipment, just so she'd
have something to do. Then she got a job and
worked at this grocery store, but the people were not
kind to her. They didn't understand her. She was twenty
years old. She looked like she should be able to
act like a girl woman and make decisions, and she couldn't.
And every day she would come home, I hate my job.
I hate my job. You know, I don't want to
(03:30):
do this. So I was in Nashville shopping with my
sister in law and we went into a thrift store
and we got to talking to the owner and he
had opened it to give his daughter a job because
she had autism. And we walked out the door and
my sister in law looked at me and said, you're
going to do that, aren't you. It took me four years.
(03:52):
I retired. Then I put what retirement money I had
into it, and I opened the store here in Oxford
to employ persons living with mental illness in a safe
work environment in hopes of helping them achieve independence and
self respect. Cassie was thrilled. She was very excited that
she wasn't going to have to work at the grocery
store anymore. We started out with two employees. I had
(04:16):
started getting donations before I opened the store, and so
we had a few things, not a lot. But the
first day we opened, a lady stole from me the
very first day, and I'm like, oh, my gosh, I
hadn't thought about that. Everything we sell is donated. We
don't buy anything. We have to depend on the people
(04:38):
in the community to donate. There were lots of paydays.
On Thursday night, I'd say, lord, please put the money
in the bank, because paydays tomorrow I don't have it.
And we always managed to make payroll. I always didn't
get paid, but we always managed to pay of the employees.
It was a real learning process. We really just struggle
(04:59):
financially just to get by and keep our doors open.
But when the pandemic hit, people were home cleaning out
their closets and their attics and their garages. Cassie and
I and my niece worked at the store every day
just to keep the donations out of the parking lot
because people were bringing them in like crazy. Not only
did we get all the donations, people learned about us
(05:21):
that didn't know about us before, and since then we
are We're doing really well. Today. We have about fifteen employees.
It's very rewarding. Most of my employees have been there
a long time. I have one young man that's worked
with them ever since we opened. He and Cassie were
friends when we opened, and they love working there. They
(05:41):
do a good job. But it's like a new day
every day because just because you told somebody that those
go in the floral section one day, the next day
you have to tell them again. Sometimes my customers will
mistake my employees for being rude, and I'll pull them aside.
I don't know. I'll explain the situation. You know, here's
(06:03):
our brochure, this is what we're about. And most of
the time they're very understanding and then they're apologetic. But
we do have people that are just downright rude, and
I just say, we are here to give these people
a safe work environment where they can feel comfortable, and
it's not tolerated because all we want is to be
loved and to be treated with kindness. That's it. They
(06:24):
work very hard, several of them. I have to say, Okay,
you need to sit down and take a break because
they work hard. The joke around the store is some
days when we would be overwhelmed, my niece, who has
helped me from the beginning, she would say, would you
please quit praying for furniture because God always supplies. I
knew when I walked out that door in Nashville, if
(06:46):
that's what he wanted me to do, I didn't have
any idea how I was going to do it. I
had been through so much with Cassie being sick and
not being able to work at times, but we never
went hungry and we never did without. So I have
a pretty strong fate and I knew that through this
he would provide and he has. It's pretty awesome. A
(07:07):
dream is open more stores and more cities to help
more people, because I mean, I don't know what Cassie
would do, and I don't know what the other kids.
And I call them kids, they're not kids, they're young adults,
but I don't know what they would do if they
didn't have a place to go to. I have a
young man that came to me at the time he
couldn't count change, and his confidence just grew and grew
(07:30):
as he worked for me. And now he has moved
out of his mother's home, has moved to Nashville and
is working at a store and he's assistant manager. And
it just thrills me because look what he's done, and
had he set at home and not done anything, it
would be in such a waste and it's great to
(07:51):
be a part of that. I take no credit for
this at all. It's a god thing. He's just using me,
and I just I tell Cassie, I said, some good
has come from all the heartache and paining the cassies
had to go through.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
And a great job on that piece by Madison, And
a special thanks to Donna Howard, the founder of Holding
Hands resale shop. Oxford is a beautiful small town about
an hour south of Memphis, Tennessee. And my goodness, finding
out that your daughter at the age of fourteen is
diagnosed with chronic paranoid schizophrenia, that's a tough one. And
(08:30):
what do you do about it? Well, Donna, well, she
taught us all what to do about it. And she
learned about it from someone else in Nashville who taught
her what to do about it. A beautiful mother daughter story,
Donna Howard's story, her daughter Cassie's story too. Here on
Our American Story, This is Lee Habib, host of our
(08:56):
American Stories. Every day on this show we tell story
of history, faith, business, love, loss, and your stories. Send
us your story small or large to our email oas
at Ouramerican Stories dot com. That's oas at Ouramerican Stories
dot com. We'd love to hear them and put them
(09:16):
on the air. Our audience loves them too.
And we continue with our American stories, and up next,
we're going to hear from Donna Howard tell the story
of her daughter Cassie, who was a teenager was met
with a diagnosis that changed her life. You'll find out
where that diagnosis has led Donna to today, to a
place where she can help not only her daughter Cassie,
(00:31):
but others under similar circumstances, and all while shedding light
on an illness that had kept them in the dark
for so many years.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
I was director of ideology at a hospital here in
Mississippi for many many years. I moved to Arkansas, got married,
had three children, and in nineteen ninety Cassie became ill.
On her fourteenth birthday. It was a Sunday afternoon. I
remember it very well. She came in the kitchen that
(01:01):
day and said, the new kids on the blocker a
singing happy birthday to me through the air conditioner. And
that was AHA moment. I began to think back, and
she had been telling me things and I had not
paid attention. I say this, and I don't think people
really understand when I say she didn't sleep till she
(01:21):
was five years old, And I think now was she
hearing the voices, and that was normal to her. But
there were many many nights we didn't sleep. So I
called the pediatrician and I said, we need to talk
to you, and so we met him at the emergency room,
and after about an hour of him and her talking,
he came out and he said, she's got some serious,
(01:43):
serious issues. She was in and out of hospitals. Then
it took a long time to get a diagnosis because
a lot of doctors didn't know a lot about schizophrenia.
It took us a year. We went out to UCLA
to the Neuropsychiatric Institute, and that's where we got our
diagnosis of chronic paranoid schizophrenia at age fifteen. She was
(02:04):
having such a hard time that year that I don't
think it really resonated with her what chronic paranoid schizophrenia was.
She just knew she was hearing these voices that were
very real to her. It was very scary for her.
It was hard to find anybody to treat her. It
was just a nightmare because I couldn't get any help
(02:25):
and I couldn't find any peace for and I also
had two other children at home. She went to school
until she was in the tenth grade, and I finally
took her out because here she was a quiet, shy
little girl sitting over the corner crying. So after six
months of them calling me every day, you know, we
don't know what to do with her, I finally took
her out of school. So I had to stay home
(02:46):
and take care of her and educate myself on what
to expect and how to handle what we were going through.
It was extremely difficult time because you didn't talk about
My family wouldn't talk to me about it. They didn't
really understand it. And that's when we decided she needed
to get a job that that might help. And we
tried many jobs, and I even paid one place to
(03:09):
let her work there. I paid them just to let
her come in and clean their equipment, just so she'd
have something to do. Then she got a job and
worked at this grocery store, but the people were not
kind to her. They didn't understand her. She was twenty
years old. She looked like she should be able to
act like a girl woman and make decisions, and she couldn't.
And every day she would come home, I hate my job.
I hate my job. You know, I don't want to
(03:30):
do this. So I was in Nashville shopping with my
sister in law and we went into a thrift store
and we got to talking to the owner and he
had opened it to give his daughter a job because
she had autism. And we walked out the door and
my sister in law looked at me and said, you're
going to do that, aren't you. It took me four years.
(03:52):
I retired. Then I put what retirement money I had
into it, and I opened the store here in Oxford
to employ persons living with mental illness in a safe
work environment in hopes of helping them achieve independence and
self respect. Cassie was thrilled. She was very excited that
she wasn't going to have to work at the grocery
store anymore. We started out with two employees. I had
(04:16):
started getting donations before I opened the store, and so
we had a few things, not a lot. But the
first day we opened, a lady stole from me the
very first day, and I'm like, oh, my gosh, I
hadn't thought about that. Everything we sell is donated. We
don't buy anything. We have to depend on the people
(04:38):
in the community to donate. There were lots of paydays.
On Thursday night, I'd say, lord, please put the money
in the bank, because paydays tomorrow I don't have it.
And we always managed to make payroll. I always didn't
get paid, but we always managed to pay of the employees.
It was a real learning process. We really just struggle
(04:59):
financially just to get by and keep our doors open.
But when the pandemic hit, people were home cleaning out
their closets and their attics and their garages. Cassie and
I and my niece worked at the store every day
just to keep the donations out of the parking lot
because people were bringing them in like crazy. Not only
did we get all the donations, people learned about us
(05:21):
that didn't know about us before, and since then we
are We're doing really well. Today. We have about fifteen employees.
It's very rewarding. Most of my employees have been there
a long time. I have one young man that's worked
with them ever since we opened. He and Cassie were
friends when we opened, and they love working there. They
(05:41):
do a good job. But it's like a new day
every day because just because you told somebody that those
go in the floral section one day, the next day
you have to tell them again. Sometimes my customers will
mistake my employees for being rude, and I'll pull them aside.
I don't know. I'll explain the situation. You know, here's
(06:03):
our brochure, this is what we're about. And most of
the time they're very understanding and then they're apologetic. But
we do have people that are just downright rude, and
I just say, we are here to give these people
a safe work environment where they can feel comfortable, and
it's not tolerated because all we want is to be
loved and to be treated with kindness. That's it. They
(06:24):
work very hard, several of them. I have to say, Okay,
you need to sit down and take a break because
they work hard. The joke around the store is some
days when we would be overwhelmed, my niece, who has
helped me from the beginning, she would say, would you
please quit praying for furniture because God always supplies. I
knew when I walked out that door in Nashville, if
(06:46):
that's what he wanted me to do, I didn't have
any idea how I was going to do it. I
had been through so much with Cassie being sick and
not being able to work at times, but we never
went hungry and we never did without. So I have
a pretty strong fate and I knew that through this
he would provide and he has. It's pretty awesome. A
(07:07):
dream is open more stores and more cities to help
more people, because I mean, I don't know what Cassie
would do, and I don't know what the other kids.
And I call them kids, they're not kids, they're young adults,
but I don't know what they would do if they
didn't have a place to go to. I have a
young man that came to me at the time he
couldn't count change, and his confidence just grew and grew
(07:30):
as he worked for me. And now he has moved
out of his mother's home, has moved to Nashville and
is working at a store and he's assistant manager. And
it just thrills me because look what he's done, and
had he set at home and not done anything, it
would be in such a waste and it's great to
(07:51):
be a part of that. I take no credit for
this at all. It's a god thing. He's just using me,
and I just I tell Cassie, I said, some good
has come from all the heartache and paining the cassies
had to go through.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
And a great job on that piece by Madison, And
a special thanks to Donna Howard, the founder of Holding
Hands resale shop. Oxford is a beautiful small town about
an hour south of Memphis, Tennessee. And my goodness, finding
out that your daughter at the age of fourteen is
diagnosed with chronic paranoid schizophrenia, that's a tough one. And
(08:30):
what do you do about it? Well, Donna, well, she
taught us all what to do about it. And she
learned about it from someone else in Nashville who taught
her what to do about it. A beautiful mother daughter story,
Donna Howard's story, her daughter Cassie's story too. Here on
Our American Story, This is Lee Habib, host of our
(08:56):
American Stories. Every day on this show we tell story
of history, faith, business, love, loss, and your stories. Send
us your story small or large to our email oas
at Ouramerican Stories dot com. That's oas at Ouramerican Stories
dot com. We'd love to hear them and put them
(09:16):
on the air. Our audience loves them too.
Host
Lee Habeeb
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