Home
Soul’s Harbor
A Recovery Community
for Homeless Men
A North Texas thrift store, a music CD and a new 59-year-old JFK mystery
“How this could have ended up in a small town thrift store, fascinates me,” said George Rebeles of the original Polaroid photo he found.
FERRIS, Texas — A man in Ferris, Texas, made an unusual discovery in perhaps one of the most unusual of places. He’s now asking if the nearly 60-year-old image of President John F. Kennedy in Dallas might have some investigative or even monetary value.
“I was shocked. I was shocked,” George Rebeles said from his home in Ferris. “And that’s putting it mildly.”
His shock came from a trip to the Souls Harbor Thrift Store in downtown Ferris. He waded through the store’s collections of used furniture and appliances and knick-knacks of all kinds, to reach a pile of music CD’s.
Bachman Turner Overdrive, The Anthology, was the 1970’s treasure he found…
“Oh yeah, they’re consistently good,” he said of the Canadian rockers — whose hits like ‘Taking Care of Business’ and ‘Let it Ride’ have spanned generations.
But, perhaps a month later, he opened it.
“It wasn’t until I turned it over that I noticed what it was.”
An original black and white Polaroid photo was inside the CD case with the date 11-22-63 handwritten on the back. It was an image of the JFK motorcade on that fateful day.
“Of course realized immediately that this was an unpublished photograph. So I was excited,” Rebeles said. “It just struck me as odd to find it in a CD case.”
“The timeline, and where it fits in to the President being assassinated,” he said of one of the many questions he had. “And how this could have ended up in a small town thrift store, fascinates me.”
Fascinates someone else too. Another Farris. This time Farris with an “A.”
Farris Rookstool, III, is the former FBI analyst and JFK historian responsible for the bronze plaques and the beacon on the Dallas Love Field runway. It marks where, after the assassination, Lyndon Johnson took the oath of office onboard Air Force One.
“To me it’s the most historical landmark in Dallas,” Rookstool said.
But as for Rebeles’ historical picture, his news was not promising.
“Kind of giving you the antiques road show interpretation here,” he said looking at an enhanced copy of the photo on his IPad.
“The assessment is while you have a nice photo, it’s a nice keepsake, it’s a nice heirloom. It’s something that meant something to someone in someone’s family. I would say that if someone thinks this is of high monetary value, prepare yourself to underwhelmed or disappointed,” he said.
Rookstool said the photo appears to have been taken as the JFK motorcade left Love Field that day, turning left on Mockingbird Lane headed in the direction of Highland Park. In the distance he can see a distinctive building — which appears to match the Old Executive Inn.
Rookstool also said a passenger door appears to be firmly closed. He said that near Loma Alto and Lemmon, JFK suggested he wanted to stop the car and shake hands with people in the crowd. Rookstool said Governor John Connally, seated in front of JFK, briefly opened the door only to close it again when the plan to stop the motorcade was canceled. Photographic evidence shows that door slightly ajar for the rest of the route.
Everyone in the vehicle is also looking away from the photographer, which Rookstool said might also lower it’s value.
“Probably intrinsic value of course but, as far as monetary value, I would have no clue,” said Rebeles.
He said he hasn’t decided whether to keep the photo or offer it for sale to a collector. But he would still like to know who took the picture and how it ended up in a CD case in a small town thift store.
“I’m not a huge conspiracy nut or anything like that, but sometimes things don’t quite add up,” said Rebeles.
It may add up to one more grainy lingering question nearly 60 years later.
“I just hope that someone will look at this and say you know what, this is pretty nice to have something from history to see something that no one has seen in probably 60 years,” added Rookstool.
‘Stay in the soul’: Dallas treatment program is a lifeline for men with substance abuse issues
The Soul’s Harbor shelter helps residents get on the right path.
Tony Jackson (right) hugs Brent Burmaster after receiving a sobriety chip during a meeting at Soul’s Harbor in Dallas. Burmaster is the
shelter’s executive director. (Lawrence Jenkins/Special
By Holly Haber
2:00 PM on Jun 29, 2021
The spiked gold collar around therapy dog Pepper’s neck is the shiniest thing in sight in the meeting hall at Soul’s Harbor on a muggy Wednesday night in May. The shelter for homeless men with substance abuse issues shows its age, but that matters not a whit to the 60-odd men seated on a hodgepodge of chairs in the concrete building.
“I love this place,” says Kyle Swatt, a 33-year-old military veteran and current resident of Soul’s Harbor who’s working to kick a longtime meth addiction. “I found my brothers here.”…
Diverse in age and race, the group is assembled for a monthly Birthday Night, which will celebrate three residents whose birthdays fall in May as well as 18 men who are marking sobriety anniversaries of one month to 14 years.
Executive director Brent Burmaster, who marked 14 years of recovery from alcoholism in June, stands behind a vintage wood lectern exuberantly dispensing gold-plated sobriety coins along with personal praise for each recipient.
Residents pray after a meeting at Soul’s Harbor in Dallas.(Lawrence Jenkins / Special Contributor)
Many of the residents have cycled in and out of rehabilitation programs. Most have been in jail — some prison — so Burmaster developed Soul’s Harbor’s six-month residency program using a holistic approach along with principles from his 25-year career as an IBM sales executive. “In addition to being sober, we want to get them on the right path,” he says.
Multifaceted approach
The strategy incorporates occupational therapy in service of the nonprofit or its four thrift stores — a major source of funding — as well as mental health therapy, CrossFit exercise, money management training, yoga, temporary jobs with partner companies like Eddie Deen & Co. Catering, health care via a weekly mobile clinic operated by Parkland Health & Hospital System, pet therapy with Pepper and guidance about educational opportunities and trade school.
Most of the residents have children, and a Nurturing Fathers Program is set to start in September.
Birthday Night starts with a special meal catered by Panda Express and a slice of sheet cake. But as the men roar their approval of each and every achievement in controlling addiction, it’s clear that they are here for camaraderie, mutual support and, perhaps most important, hope.
Residents with May birthdays get gifts during a celebration at Soul’s Harbor.(Lawrence Jenkins / Special Contributor)
Former resident Kevin Jackson, whom Burmaster affectionately calls his “son,” takes the floor.
“It’s a great day to be,” Jackson says.
“YEAH!” the men shout.
“It’s a great day to be clean.”
“YEAH!”
“It’s a great day to be sober.”
“YEAH!”
“When you learn to celebrate each other, your life is gonna change,” says Jackson, who has been sober for seven years. “When I came to Soul’s Harbor, I didn’t know if I was gonna stay. I just didn’t want to go back to what drove me here.”
Jackson had been paroled in 2012 following a robbery conviction and entered a recovery ministry, but two years later, he was back on crack cocaine.
At Soul’s Harbor, he “gave himself permission to live his life differently” and stayed long enough to form relationships with men who had been practicing sobriety longer.
“I just want you to know, bro, it’s doable,” Jackson tells them.
Juan Nunez holds his six-month sobriety chip at Soul’s Harbor.(Lawrence Jenkins / Special Contributor)
‘Do the right thing’
Next up is Tanner “Bullet” Hole, who was paroled in February after serving 18 years for harboring a runaway child and aggravated assault of a public servant. He has been sober for 14 years and is staying at Soul’s Harbor as he transitions back to society.
“One month, two months, those are the hardest times when it’s going to be eating at you the hardest,” he tells the group. “But I saw more drugs in prison than I ever saw in the free world.”
“I just want to encourage you to do the right thing,” he concludes.
After the program, resident Steven “Link” Branum says such testimony “is motivating, especially for the guys with long sobriety.”
Burmaster started Birthday Night only a few weeks after he joined the nonprofit in 2009, when one of the residents mentioned it had been years since he’d had birthday cake.
“Birthday Night is our happiest night of the month,” Burmaster says. “It’s amazing to watch these guys like Kevin, who was sleeping on Martin Luther King [Jr.] Boulevard and turned his life around.”
“Brent is interested in, ‘How do you fix these problems,’” says restaurateur Eddie Deen, who gives a biannual workshop at the shelter about abandoning old thinking patterns and self-destructive behavior.
While Soul’s Harbor clearly has a spiritual element, and Burmaster and others often praise God, the program is not based on religion.
Men relax in their dorm at Soul’s Harbor in Dallas.(Lawrence Jenkins / Special Contributor)
Part of the process
About a third of the men will stay the full six months, and 80% to 90% of them will maintain long-term sobriety, Burmaster says. Others come back to try again.
“Some of them leave after two or three months,” he says. “They think, ‘I’ve got this.’ They go back to their druggie friends or drinking buddies and get sucked back into the same thing. … It used to make me sad, but now I recognize it’s part of the recovery process.”
After the meeting, Roland Scott and Larry Starnes both say they’ve been to rehab facilities, and, “There is no other place like this.”
“Here, you can be who you are,” Scott says.
“You can feel the love and the spirituality here,” Starnes adds.
Addiction is a lonely disease. Family and friends want no part of the addiction nor the addict. The addict and the alcoholic will isolate themselves – feeling remorse, guilt, and hopelessness. The addict and the alcoholic are caught in a downward spiral that can lead the person to lose everything and become homeless. Soul’s Harbor opens it’s doors to all homeless men with substance abuse issues. We welcome them into a caring, inclusive, and loving community. We have a common bond in our brokenness. We demonstrate to our men that they can have fun in recovery – whether at a Texas Rangers game, pool tournament, basketball pick-up game, talent show, or movie theater. Soul’s Harbor has been providing a caring community for homeless men since 1956.
So why is Soul’s Harbor so effective at keeping men sober? The answer is – the longer you stay sober, the better the chance you will stay sober. Sounds fairly intuitive. However, many programs are 1 or 2 months long which barely gets the addict or alcoholic off their drug of choice. Soul’s Harbor program is 6 months long followed by its aftercare program called the “Exit Plan Strategy”. Our Exit Plan Strategy is another 9 to 12 months. Residents that complete both our 6-month program and Exit Plan strategy has a very high success rate of long term sobriety.
Our Recovery Program at Soul’s Harbor is modeled after expensive treatment centers. We take “best practices” from these treatment centers and offer them at “no charge” for our community of homeless men. We treat the recovery program as a “school in recovery”. Our men are enrolled in cognitive courses, relapse courses, relationship courses, and other approaches to recovery. We offer Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous, Cocaine Anonymous, Celebrate Recovery, and optional Bible Studies. To learn more about our holistic approach to recovery, go to The Harbor Program.
For information regarding intake/admission into our recovery facility, please contact:
Dispatch Representative
Soul’s Harbor, Inc.
13134 Nile Drive
Dallas, Texas 75253
972.286.1940
972.286.5282 Fax
Soul’s Harbor Substance Abuse Program Questions and Intake
Please contact our intake Manager
Cell number 214-663-9684
contact@soulsharbordallas.org
New Online Donation Processing:
Soul’s Harbor, Inc.
13134 Nile Drive
Dallas, Texas 75253
972.286.1940
972.286.5282 Fax
donate@soulsharbordallas.org
Soul’s Harbor can now provide the convenience of taking your donation request online. Just follow the link to our online “Household Donation Request Form”. We are also now taking vehicle donations and have an online donation processing form for this too. “Vehicle Donation Request Form”
To help Soul’s Harbor financially you can donate by clicking the donate button.
Site Visits to Date: