A Foundation at Work: Supporting Health and Wellness through the Community

The Ozarks Healthcare Foundation has never been busier doing exactly what its name suggests – laying a firm groundwork for the health system it supports – than through the year of 2022.

Several business ventures fall under the non-profit’s umbrella, which all support the Foundation’s philanthropic work in supporting hospital patients and their families in Ozarks Healthcare’s community, along with growing healthcare technology, education, training, and recruitment programs.

The support is actually two-fold: in addition to supporting Ozarks Healthcare, the Foundation’s businesses provide further economic stability for the communities they serve.

“Our special teams of employees and volunteers work hard to make all pieces of our Foundation work,” Karen Yarbrough, Ozarks Healthcare Foundation Manager, said. “Our thrift stores alone set impressive new income records through 2022 – this is largely due in part to the teamwork and the passion of the people we have in place who have big hearts for the work they are doing. With the addition of our coffee shop, we hired 12 new employees through the year. This does not count our volunteers who have found a special calling to spend their time for a meaningful cause with us.”

The Foundation’s thrift store in West Plains showed a sales increase of more than $5,000 from the previous year and set profit records for the months of April, July, August, September, and October in 2022. After its original opening in the late ‘90s, the growth and attention the store has received over the past few years has been impressive, staff said.

“I have worked here for several years and the amount of growth we have undertaken is astounding and all thanks to the support of our community,” Emmily Andrews, lead supervisor at the West Plains Ozarks Healthcare Thrift Store, said. “There would have been no way for us to have this size nor reach without our community’s generous donations and compassion for what we do.”

Having a later operation start in 2018, the Foundation’s thrift store in Thayer had an entire record year in 2022, showing a sales increase of more than $48,000 compared to the previous year and set profit records every month of the year.

“We are totally blessed by the generous outpouring of support from our surrounding communities in the ways of donations, shopping, kindness and friendship that helps us thrive,” Angelika Sims, lead supervisor at the Thayer Ozarks Healthcare Thrift Store, said. “We are always happy to help our customers have a positive and affordable shopping experience from a great variety of merchandise and it is with a grateful heart that I can say we are always happy to serve our community - without them there would be no us.”

Inside Ozarks Healthcare’s main campus, the Foundation continued to make waves with the reopening of its hospital gift shop in a remodeled space and the grand opening of its new coffee shop that proudly serves Starbucks Coffee. The original gift shop closed during COVID-19 and through Ozarks Healthcare’s latest expansion project to allow for construction. The gift shop is primarily operated by volunteers through the Foundation.

“It’s been so special to welcome shoppers back to our space,” Yarbrough said. “Even though we’ve only been up and running a few months, people from the community have already been doing holiday shopping, sending flowers or balloons to their loved one who may be in the hospital, or picking up a gift to brighten someone’s day.”

The Foundation’s coffee shop has also set records in sales nearly every month since its opening in March of 2022. The coffee shop processed more than 58,000 transactions since its opening through the end of 2022. Through the year, nine new employees were hired to make special-crafted beverages, including several from a younger demographic of the community. Coffee shop manager Zac Trotter said this younger workforce has demonstrated great pride in the work they are doing for the Foundation and their community.

“The staff we have brought on board to help run the Foundation’s coffee shop have done a phenomenal job showing enthusiasm and respect for the work they are doing each day,” Trotter said. “It’s so rewarding to hear customers coming to grab a coffee and hear their surprise when our staff remember their favorite selections and greet them with a smile. Customer service is a huge topic of discussion in our world today, but I’m proud to say there’s no shortage of it among our team. It’s amazing to watch these individuals take pride in being a part of something bigger themselves.”

Ozarks Healthcare is a system of care encompassing primary care and specialty clinics, along with complete rehabilitation, behavioral healthcare, and home health services. While the 114-bed acute care hospital cares for more than 5,400 admissions, the entire health system has more than 364,000 patient visits annually in South Central Missouri and Northern Arkansas. For more information about Ozarks Healthcare, visit www.OzarksHealthcare.com.

Emmily Andrews, lead supervisor at the West Plains Ozarks Healthcare Thrift Store

Volunteers at the Ozarks Healthcare Foundation’s West Plains Thrift Store work on processing donations. 

Angelika Sims, lead supervisor at the Thayer Ozarks Healthcare Thrift Store

Volunteers at the Ozarks Healthcare Foundation’s Thayer Thrift Store work on stocking shelves.

Volunteers from the Ozarks Healthcare Foundation’s gift shop located inside Ozarks Healthcare’s hospital

Staff from the Ozarks Healthcare Foundation’s coffee shop proudly serving Starbucks Coffee located inside Ozarks Healthcare’s main entrance