21 Oct D Movement: We’ve hit the mark and it’s because of you

Karl Houston, Senior Director of Marketing & Community Relations

How can we say, ‘Thank you,’ to all of our donors?  Words certainly aren’t sufficient. For the first time ever, our Goodwill has served more than one million donors by mid-October, allowing us to continue our mission of providing employment and training services in middle and west Tennessee. In 2009, donations topped one million in November. Since words can’t say enough, we want all those who have generously given Goodwill their gently-used items to calculate what every item has meant to our mission.

Goodwill sells your donated goods to provide employment and training opportunities for people who have disabilities and others who have trouble finding and keeping jobs.  Through September of this year, your donations have provided free job training and services for more than 9,100 clients.  And, 2,237 of those clients were placed in a job.  

Here’s another way to think about how cleaning your closet, clearing your clutter and giving what you no longer need, want, or use, has helped someone who wants to find work. Donate eight pieces of clothing and you’ve given a Goodwill client one and a half hours of free training.  

So, thank you for every piece of clothing you donate, every dish, toaster, TV and toy.  Your donations have changed many lives.  To read about some of the people who’ve been helped because of the generosity of our donors, and to calculate what your donations mean to others, please visit our Web site. 

The donations team makes it easy for you to continue donating to Goodwill.  There are 68 Donation Express Centers in the 46 counties served by our Goodwill.  The company plans to open as many as nine new sites by the end of 2011. Thanks, again!