Lend Your Voice to Support Goodwill Industries Week

This week marks Goodwill Industries Week, which has taken place every full first week of May since 1951. As part of the celebration, Goodwill organizations around the United States and Canada are hosting career fairs, donation drives, and offer tours and conduct other celebratory events. The sale of donated goods at Goodwill’s more than 3,100 stores […]
Honor Hardworking Mothers by Shopping at Goodwill

Considering all of the incredible things our moms have done for us over the years, the very least they deserve is a really wonderful, heart-felt celebration on Mother’s Day. With just over a week left to prepare, I’m hoping you’ve already got some great ideas. If not, let us help! Goodwill’s goal is to aid in the success of people who are striving to earn a paycheck and support their families – many of those people are moms who work tirelessly to provide. Here are a few ways that you can help those mothers in your community while also giving your mom a little relief next Sunday.
Give a Second Chance During National Reentry Week

Each year, more than 600,000 individuals return to society after serving time in federal and state prisons, and another 11.4 million individuals cycle through local jails. Nearly a quarter of Americans has had some sort of encounter with the criminal justice system – mostly for relatively minor, non-violent offenses, and sometimes from decades in the past.
Career and Financial Advice for April 2016

The Goodwill blog’s career and financial advice posts have all moved to GoodProspects, but you can still get great advice on your job search, learn about career fields and connect with virtual career mentors. Here are some recent articles published this month—match your skills to your ideal workplace, learn networking strategies for older workers, explore careers in solar installation, and learn details about health care benefits and retirement options.
My Story: Crystal Jacobs

My name is Crystal Jacobs and I was born deaf. Much of my life and the decisions I’ve made have been regulated by fear. Fear of being different, fear of failure, fear of feeling alone. Most people don’t think the divide between hearing and deaf to be that big of a deal, but it’s something I had a lot of trouble with. I’m not confident in the way I talk or sound, and this caused a lot of issues for me and how I interacted with people who can hear.
Find Prom Perfection at Goodwill

Prom season is right around the corner and most of the early birds have probably already gotten their elegant attire worms. For those of us who are always hopelessly last minute or for anyone who has been searching for months to no avail, I have a few ideas to share today that could replace your prom season stress with a spark of excitement. These last months of the school year should be filled with an eager joy or even a sweet nostalgia, so prepare to put your worries behind you and get pumped about a new prom ensemble instead!
Imagine if Your Donations Filled an Entire Plane

This Friday marks 46 years since the first Earth Day in 1970. You may not know it, but if you have donated to your local Goodwill or shopped at a local Goodwill store or online you have helped make our planet a little cleaner and a little greener. How much greener? In 2010 Goodwill (and you!) helped divert more than 2.4 billion pounds from landfills through donations to, and purchases from, Goodwill.
Spring at Goodwill Means Finding a Fresh Start

What’s the most exciting thing about the springtime? For me, it’s how BRIGHT everything becomes. After the time change there are more daylight hours and once the leaves pop, their vibrant greens seem to electrify the air. Today I want to focus on how we can capture that luminous quality that springtime has and use it to enthuse the rest of our lives.
Goodwill Advocacy Leader Award Winners Announced

Goodwill Industries International (GII) honored five members of Congress and the director of mission strategies for Goodwill Industries of Central and Coastal Virginia (Richmond) with the nonprofit’s annual advocacy awards. The awards, which recognize commitment to advancing Goodwill’s mission of helping people build careers and gain employment, were presented on Tuesday, April 12 during a reception in Washington, DC, as part of Goodwill’s annual advocacy event.
My Story: Angelo Pegeuese

My name is Angelo Pegeuese. I was born and raised in Winston-Salem, NC. I was a troubled teenage boy who was raised by a single mother. I started getting into trouble with the law at the age of 14 and in 2005, when I was 18, I was convicted of multiple offenses and sentenced to 12 years in prison. Those had to be the toughest years of my life.
Creative Repurposing: Three Fresh Ideas

With Earth Day only two weeks away and environmental consciousness on everyone’s mind, we thought we’d share a little about how Goodwill helps to save our planet. On top of creating a wonderful opportunity for neighbors to reuse one another’s second-hand items through retail stores, Goodwill stock that doesn’t sell after a significant amount of time in stores and outlets is baled and sold to textile recyclers, which extends the life of already manufactured goods. Right there we have two of the three sustainability Rs, now let’s look at the third: reduce. Here are a few fresh ways that people have reduced their need to buy new things simply by reusing the old for their creative repurposing projects!
Join the #GoodwillOnHill Virtual Advocacy Day!

This week, Goodwill advocates from around the country will visit Capitol Hill and meet with hundreds of lawmakers to advocate for federal investments in workforce program, protecting charitable giving incentives, and reauthorizing the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) program. You can help bolster the success of their visits and help strengthen Goodwill’s public policy influence.