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Shopping Guide News Wednesday, February 4, 2026
www.shoppingguidenews.com
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Community Thrift Project:
ONE MAN’S OBSESSION By WENDY MELTON Staff Writer
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PRESORTED The Papers Inc. STANDARD NONPROFIT ORG P.O.U.S. Box 188PAID POSTAGE MILFORD, IN Milford, Indiana 46542 PERMIT NO. 2
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Jared Howard is a force to be reckoned with - but it hasn’t always been that way. The Rochester native struggled as a student. Studying was a challenge, and he wasn’t sure what career path to A STORE FULL follow. His future was un— Jared Howard is certain and it was difficult shown inside Comfor him to find out just munity Project Thrift where he fit in the scheme Store, which is filled of things. Then he met with clothing and othMike Williams who owned er items. a pallet store called Half Price or Less in December of 2019. It wasn’t long before Williams decided to leave the business. Howard decided to buy the business. It was a decision that changed his life. “I asked him if I could make payments and take it over from him. He agreed, and I took it “At the time, I didn’t know what over. I closed Half Price or Less a thrift store was. I had never and opened Community Project thrifted before. Unbeknownst to Discount Store. That’s the legal me, I started a thrift store withname. Our DBA is the Communi- out even knowing what one was. ty Project Thrift Store,” Howard Pallets are a terrible business to said. be in. I was part of Half Price or He had found his place as a Less from the beginning,” he said. business owner. Little did he real“I realized working with Mike ize, the best was yet to come. that pallets wasn’t where it was at. So I talked to a friend of mine, Robert Smith, and he told me the ultimate goal was to have a place that helped the community. When I took it over, I decided to go head deep, advertising that we take donations,” he added. In the beginning, donations were scarce. “In our first month, we only received two donations. Now we are getting box truckloads constantly,” he said. The store’s growth soon required a move from its original Continued on page 2
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DONATED ITEMS — Jared Howard shows the abundance of donated items at Community Project Thrift Store that have not yet made it to the shelves. Photos provided by Jared Howard.
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