Answers to Prayers Boutique and Outreach has been supporting the homeless and those in poverty in Taney County for over the last three years.
The owners of the ministry and outreach program, Sue and Roger Desmarais, said they were helping a different ministry in the Appalachian Mountains when God first reached out to them to start this organization in the Ozarks.
“God said that there was too much poverty in our own backyard to come home,” Sue Desmarais said.
The store is open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, or you can make an appointment with Answers to Prayer’s number-one volunteer, John Simpkins.
“I didn’t have a lot of purpose in my life, you know I’ve been disabled quite a few years,” said Simpkins. “Then I discovered the more I was doing here, the more purpose it gave me.”
John Simpkins is a disabled veteran who was down on his luck before he started volunteering for Answers to Prayers Boutique and Outreach. Now, he looks forward to every day he gets to help others.
“Able to bless people four hours a day and it doesn’t cost me a dime. I love it,” Simpkins said.
The complete feature can be seen on the Ozarks First Website.
(Story by Jacob Blount and Emilee Kuschel, Ozarks First)