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Sewing Skills Program Brightens Job Prospects for Cambodian Orphans

Toledo Goodwill Initiative Garners Global Outreach Award

June 26, 2007

Rockville, MD — A partnership between Goodwill Industries of Northwest Ohio (Toledo) and the Khmer Children’s Foundation in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, provides sewing and knitting skills training to youth as they leave a local orphanage, increasing their chances at earning a livable wage as adults. This international effort has earned the Toledo Goodwill the 2007 Global Outreach Award from Goodwill Industries International.

The long-distance relationship was forged in 2002 after the Goodwill’s Workforce Development Director, Deb Lagger, adopted two children from Cambodia. Through regular updates and newsletters from Khmer Children’s Foundation ,Lagger learned that most 18-year-olds, upon emancipation from the orphanage, have no marketable skills, no family support and a bleak employment outlook.

Lagger felt that this presented the Toledo Goodwill with a golden opportunity to provide employment and training services, and to promote the goals of Goodwill Industries International’s 21st Century Initiative to help 20 million people around the world improve their economic self-sufficiency by 2020.

Annually, Goodwill Industries of Northwest Ohio provides the wages for a sewing skills instructor at the Pursat Orphanage as well as a stipend for the orphanage director to promote employment opportunities for youth.

“Toledo Goodwill’s Cambodia Initiative brings our 21st Century Initiative to life,” says George W. Kessinger, President and CEO of Goodwill Industries International. “The world becomes a much smaller place when we reach out to our neighbors, not only with compassion but with workable solutions to local employment needs.”

In addition to making annual trips to Cambodia, Toledo Goodwill employees continue to monitor the labor market and clothing industry trends to ensure that the sewing skills training is meeting local needs.

The purpose of the Global Outreach Award is to recognize, reward and share best practices for carrying out the third strategy of the Goodwill Industries 21st Century Initiative: Develop mission-enhancing business opportunities around the world while respecting local operating environments and cultures.