Executive director Debbie Rambo thinks of Samaritan Community Center’s mission like a wheel with many spokes. The organization, which has centers in both Rogers and Springdale, offers a wide array of services and initiatives to help people in Northwest Arkansas.
The center of the wheel is the Samaritan Care program through which a team of community resource navigators help connect people to essential services such as food, housing, and employment assistance.
“We just like to walk alongside people in their life journey and help them navigate those barriers that might be out there,” Debbie says, “and encourage them and cheer them on as their life situation improves.”
Numerous other initiatives branch out from the Care program and provide food, medical resources, and more.
It was those many spokes that led Rogers resident Art Dion to choose Samaritan when he set out to run marathons for charity.
“I feel like it's one of the best-kept secrets around in the United States as far as what they do,” Art says. “I didn't see another charity that dives into so many things like that.”
Art had been a casual runner throughout his life, but after moving to Northwest Arkansas in 2015, a close friend encouraged him to sign up for the Susan G. Komen 10K race.
With that first race, he was hooked. He decided to challenge himself to run his first marathon that year. He didn’t choose just any marathon, either: He wanted to run Boston.
“When I saw there were 35 charities that you could run for, I had a God moment, like, ‘That's what I want to do,’” Art says. “It was kind of the best of both worlds combining the fact I could run marathons, and I really enjoyed that, and at the same time fundraising for those that aren't as well off as we are.”
He ran his first marathon for a national charity called “Team For Kids.” After that, he decided to look locally and found Samaritan.
Art has raised about $160,000 for Samaritan through running. He has run Boston twice, as well as New York City, Tokyo, Berlin, London, Chicago and, hardest of all, the Antarctic Ice Marathon.
Art took a break from running in 2023 due to injury, but he wasn’t done raising money through endurance sports. He turned to biking and raised about $20,000 in four races.
He was recently cleared to return to running and plans to continue toward his goal of running a marathon on every continent, plus the North Pole Marathon.
Debbie says some of Dion’s money has been used for everyday necessities, such as grocery carts for the market.
Some has also gone toward the SnackPack program, which delivers food to 160 schools in four Northwest Arkansas counties with the goal of ensuring children at risk of food insecurity have food available when not at school.
It is Samaritan’s most expensive program to run, Debbie says, as it feeds about 5,400 children each week and costs Samaritan about $2.50 per child.
SnackPacks are just one of Samaritan’s numerous projects. At its Rogers and Springdale centers, Samaritan has a free, restaurant-style cafe where volunteers make and serve hot meals. The Samaritan Market allows visitors to choose their own groceries rather than receiving pre-sorted bags. Samaritan Farm provides fresh produce to both the cafe and market.
Samaritan also has programs to provide dental care and counseling, as well as information on additional resources for help with Medicare, Medicaid, job skills training, and more.
Samaritan can even give donated cars to individuals who need to take children to school or get to work.
Donations like Art’s make up about 30% of Samaritan’s income to support its many programs. About 40% comes from its thrift stores in Springdale and Rogers.
Its Rogers store “took a direct hit” from the Rogers tornado in May 2024, Debbie says. The store was closed for about three months.
“Our savings went down pretty dramatically after the tornado, and we're still, you know, trying to build back up from that,” Debbie says. “We saw about a 25-27% increase in the number of people we were serving, a lot of the families that were affected by the tornado. ... It’s like we had to serve more with less.”
Rogers Public Schools stepped up to help, setting up drop zones for donations of food and cleaning supplies. The Walmart Foundation, Tyson, Delta Dental, and other corporate partners provided additional financial support.
With the help of donors like Art and others in the community, Samaritan’s wheel of important services has continued to turn, and Debbie says the organization is “stronger for it.”
Pull Quote page 1: “We just like to walk alongside people in their life journey and help them navigate those barriers that might be out there."
Pull Quote 2 on flex page: “I feel like it's one of the best-kept secrets around in the U.S. as far as what they do."