Hinks family, S.D. retailers, honored for helping kids

Furniture Today Staff -- Furniture Today, November 26, 2012

Standing with the Operation School Bell award are Ashley Furniture HomeStores employees Cory Price, left, Deb Tischler and Charles McGuire; store owners Carolyn and Bill Hinks; Cindy Stone, with Operation School Bell; and Marilyn Wooden and Michael Wooden, Ashley Furniture HomeStores.SIOUX FALLS, S.D. - Bill and Carolyn Hinks, owners of Sioux Falls-based Furniture Outlets USA and 16 Ashley Furniture HomeStores, were awarded the Assistance League National Operation School Bell Award for their significant financial and in-kind support of the Assistance League of Minneapolis- St. Paul.
     Operation School Bell provides help to children in need. Assistance includes food, backpacks, clothing and enhanced classroom and reading programs. Last year, the organization's 120 chapters spent $13.8 million to help clothe more than 337,000 children.
     For the past eight years, Ashley Furniture HomeStores have provided in-kind loading and transportation services to and from Operation School Bell distribution sites.
     Bill and Carolyn Hinks are involved in local organizations including Children's Inn, Make- A-Wish and Sanford Children's Hospital, where the Bill and Carolyn Hinks Family Endowment for Children was established.