Category: The Goodwill Blog

Last week, recent Emmy winner and “Trainwreck” star Amy Schumer collaborated with Goodwill Southern California (Los Angeles) to empower women through fashion. In conjunction with the comedian’s Style Fund, LA Goodwill job seekers were offered the opportunity to attend the Style Empowerment Workshop. Thirty participants enjoyed a morning of celebration and transformation with fashion stylists, and hair and make-up professionals. Each guest took home a complimentary professionally styled outfit and accessories and a new found confidence – to help them tackle the working world and create a brighter pathway to success for themselves and their families.

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Can’t afford to remodel your entire kitchen or closet? If you watch lifestyle television shows, you may get the feeling that getting organized and making over your spaces is out of reach for your budget. Here are a few ways you can organize your life and do it affordably! 1. Maximize your space first. You

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Every October, some friends of mine host a harvest brunch at their home. Families travel from all over the state on a Sunday morning to break bread together and catch up over hot coffee and cool fall moods. There is just something about a chill in the air that makes us all want to come together and, since this is one of my favorite fall occurrences, I thought I’d share that feeling with you today.

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This week’s fun fact is that October 21, 2015 is the date that Doctor Emmitt Brown set for his time machine, a DeLorean, in hopes of saving Marty McFly and his girlfriend’s future in the movie “Back to the Future.” As a proud member of Generation X, I enjoyed reading accounts, such as “It’s Time for ‘Back to the Future’ Day,” which reflect upon what the movie got right (e.g. teleconferencing) and what it got wrong (e.g. hovercrafts that run on garbage serving as a common and accessible mode of transportation).

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Morgan Memorial Goodwill Industries (Boston, MA) recently hung a commemorative wall hanging in the agency’s headquarters, originally created to celebrate Goodwill Industries of America's (now known as Goodwill Industries International) 75th anniversary in 1977. The piece, which resembles a quilt, illustrates the Boston Goodwill’s history and provides a look at the composition of the Goodwill enterprise at the time.

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There are 15 days left before Halloween! That’s plenty of time to make your own costume! Sure, you could buy one that’s ready-made, but what’s the fun in that? Use the next two weeks to invent an ensemble that is completely unique and you’ll really knock the socks off of those trick-or-treaters and costume partygoers. Here’s what I’m talking about…

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Today, I attended the first Annual National Financial Goal Day kickoff, hosted by The Financial Clinic, to launch financial goals. Goodwill is a partner with The Financial Clinic, whose mission is to improve financial mobility for the working poor.

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Recent data shows high school graduation rates across the U.S. are at an all-time high, surpassing 81 percent. Studies also indicate that a young person’s success can be greatly enhanced by a champion or mentor, an adult who consistently helps in ways both big and small. Goodwill’s GoodGuides program is among several mentoring success stories that were featured on PBS’s “American Graduate Day” broadcast on October 3.

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Here in New England, autumn is saturating our leaves with its most glorious tones. Every year, I’m in awe of the colors being produced, but once in awhile, I find a new obsession with one shade in particular. Even if it’s an old familiar hue, I’ll suddenly see it in a new way that has me wishing I could redecorate my whole house to capture its mood. Of course, I don’t have the time or money to undertake such a restructuring, so I have to find other ways to bring the color-du-jour into my life. This year, I’m head over heels for the bright, lemony look of citron that I’ve seen adorning some of my local branches. It’s not a color that is often associated with fall, but in my neck of the woods (quite literally) it’s really been catching my eye.

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October is National Disability Employment Awareness Month and Goodwill Industries International is proud to join service providers, advocacy groups and employers among other stakeholders, in acknowledging the importance of employees with disabilities as a vital component of the U.S. labor force. This year's theme, developed by the U.S. Department of Labor — "My Disability Is One Part of Who I Am" — underscores the fact that employees with disabilities bring a wide variety of skills to the table. However, it is evident that more work needs to be done to educate employers and support people with disabilities. Approximately one in five Americans has a disability and they make up nearly 20 percent of America's workforce, yet their unemployment rate is more than twice that of workers without disabilities.

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Any one of Goodwill Industries of Southern Rivers (Columbus, GA/GoodwillSR) nine career centers is often filled with clients who are on a mission – a mission to find employment and increase economic stability. Increasingly, Hispanics who live in GoodwillSR’s 50-county territory are included in that mission. Recognizing the need to connect Latinos in east Alabama and west Georgia to local resources, the Goodwill's Hispanic Services has kicked off a robust initiative, in partnership with the Goizueta Foundation, to attract and serve this growing demographic.

READ MORE from Columbus, GA Goodwill Connects Hispanics with Key Resources

My name is Pachi McLeod. As the Hispanic Services Manager [at Goodwill Industries of Southern Rivers (Columbus GA)], I get to provide services for the community, but I also get to support the bilingual staff at their different locations, and I get to be a kind of the bridge between the Hispanics and non-Hispanics alike.

READ MORE from My Story: Patricia “Pachi” McLeod