Rachel Jackson

O'Fallon resident Rachel Jackson receives $10,000 last month from Tyra Banks on the former model's talk show.
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O'Fallon resident Rachel Jackson receives $10,000 last month from Tyra Banks on the former model's talk show.
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For O'Fallon resident and Project Compassion founder Rachel Jackson, the answer was simple -- open her own clothing store.It was this childhood hope that she shared with "The Tyra Banks Show."

But Jackson, 25, had no idea when she flew on Jan. 25 to tape the show in California that she would actually walk away with a check for $10,000.She said she received a phone call on Martin Luther King Jr. Day from the daytime talk show.

"They told me, that I was just going out there to tell my story," Jackson said."None of that made me think 'Rachel you're going to walk away with $10,000.'"

Jackson, said she had hoped the show planned to give her a donation for the lunch program, Project Compassion, which she started in October.The program prepares and delivers 1,000 sack lunches, knit gloves and blankets once a month to shelters in East St. Louis, Washington Park, Brooklyn and downtown St. Louis.

"A lot of these shelters aren't able to afford breakfast, lunch and dinner," said Jackson."The shelters are on a tight budget, and can't give the kids snacks.When I drop off an extra four hundred sandwiches at a shelter, they can afford to have a snack."

Jackson, a single mother who works full time as an enrollment coordinator for Gateway EDI Inc. in St. Louis and also studies full time at Harris-Stowe State University, caught the show's attention.
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Jackson, a member of the Church of the Living God in Fairview Heights, said her inspiration for the lunch program came after she resigned from her job as an assistant manager for a finance company in August.

"When I was not working, I found myself complaining about the fact that I couldn't go shopping," she said."I wasn't being grateful for what I still had.It was a conviction from God, where he said, 'If you're going to complain, I'm going to show you someone worse off than you.I was praying to God what I should do and he said, 'You're going to feed my people.'"

She said the program costs about $800 a month and is mostly funded through church donations.But the lunch program is not her only idea that Jackson will see to fruition.She said since she was a young girl she loved fashion because it's a form of self-expression.

"I plan to use the $10,000 as capital to start a business -- my own clothing store," Jackson said."It'll be a T-shirt and accessory shop, with shirts with fun sayings.A lot of times you have to travel to St. Louis to get it.I want to bring it here locally.It will be a one-of-a kind store, never anything twice."

Jackson, who is studying marketing and business administration at Harris-Stowe, said she has been working with the Small Business Development Center in East St. Louis to create a business plan, but plans stalled because of a lack of funding.

"This is a huge step for her," said Sarah Mager, a small business development center counselor who has been working with Jackson.
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"The way my mother raised me, and my son," Jackson said.

Rachel Jackson and Project Compassion already pass out 1,000 sack lunches each month to the homeless and needy in the metropolitan area.
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Jackson, 26, of Belleville, the founder of Project Compassion, said they will be accepting donations of new and gently used blankets to be distributed to the homeless and shelters in the area.

Project Compassion volunteers gather once a month to assemble lunches which are passed out to homeless people in St. Louis and East St. Louis.The volunteers also give out socks, caps, gloves and whatever items are donated.

"If we can't get them off the street, at least we can give them something they need from month to month," she said.

In February, Jackson was honored on the Tyra Banks Show and awarded $10,000 for her project.

The project has grown and become more organized from its humble beginnings.

"Last year, around July, I sent a letter to all my family and friends saying that God had put a concern in my heart for the homeless," she said."I asked for donations."

She went out and bought 140 loaves of bread, 100 packages of meat, bananas, 1,000 juices.

"I was living in a two-bedroom townhouse at the time," she said."Everything was covered with stuff.

One of her aunts came over and together they made 595 sandwiches one morning, she said.A girlfriend showed up with another aunt and cousins, six or seven people total, and the lunch bagging was done at 6 p.m.

Then the group of women bravely, if somewhat naively, headed to downtown St. Louis to pass them out.

"There were so many people, like ants coming out," Jackson said."They were reaching and grabbing.
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Jackson said her dream is to eventually have a location where she can run a store to help people.

For more information you can call Jackson at 698-7122 or you can send donations to Project Compassion, P.O. Box 23283, Belleville, Il. 62223.