New Orleans Goodwill Fared Well in Hurricane’s Wake
On September 19, Bill Jessee – CEO of Goodwill Industries of
Southeastern Louisiana – calmly walked over the shattered glass that
once filled his front door and strode over to the vending machine.
Based on one of his vice president’s earlier reports, Jessee already
knew that both the door had been broken and the vending machine cleaned
out. But, instead of getting angry, Jessee merely pointed what might
indeed have been the vandal’s motive.
“They just took the sandwiches because they needed something to eat,” Jessee said.
While Hurricane Katrina failed to bring the best out of everyone
affected by her winds and flooding, the storm at least largely spared
the Goodwill Career Center, which serves as Goodwill Industries of
Southeastern Louisiana’s headquarters in New Orleans. Smelly, moldy,
and hot, the building is nonetheless intact, except for the front door,
the vending machine and some ceiling work inside.
Jessee and Goodwill Controller Kathy Voitier visited the agency’s
headquarters on September 19, to pick up some equipment and paperwork,
so the agency can begin operating more efficiently out of Baton Rouge.
A few items on the list included getting more checks, invoices and six
central processing units (CPUs) from throughout the organization.
While Voitier packed boxes of checks and some expandable folders, the
Goodwill’s CEO ended up unhooking cords from many of the CPUs, which
contain information on grants, accounting software and payroll
functions. At one point, Jessee encountered a stubborn cord that could
only be removed with flathead screwdriver; he just decided to cut the
cord off with scissors.
“The key to this is getting the corporate [headquarters] running that much quicker,” Jessee said.
The two of them continued walking through the building, locking doors
as they went. Jessee picked up his Rolodex and planner in his office,
leaving behind his pictures of his boat and the Mardi Gras beads
hanging on his coat rack.
In the meantime, Voitier was busy marking each CPU, to ensure that the next user would know where to get what information.
Outside, the damage looked worse. The moldy smell got extremely strong,
particularly since the water rose to 60 inches at one point. Debris and
trees lay in front of the Goodwill’s headquarters, and both training
signs featuring the 'Smiling G' logo had blown off the building during
the storm.
Damage was also quite visible at the Goodwill’s Robert E. Lee store in
nearby Lakeview. When Jessee and Voitier peeked through the front
doors, water and sludge could be easily seen on the floor and the
bottoms of the clothing certainly looked like they had been wet.
Yet, both Voitier and Jessee said the Goodwill, as a whole, had fared quite well.
“I was afraid that the second story would have been compromised,”
Voitier said. [The hurricane] pulled off the roof of the Superdome, and
there’s no telling what it would have done to Goodwill Industries.”
On the way home from the impromptu trip, Jessee agreed that finding the
building pretty much as the staff had left it Saturday August 27, was a
very positive thing.
“Today was a great day,” he said. “It was a biggie day.”
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