ROCKVILLE, MD — Goodwill Industries of Southwest Florida (North Fort Myers) has been honored with a 2013 Advocacy Leader Award from Goodwill Industries International. The award recognizes a Goodwill® agency that has demonstrated leadership and commitment to advancing Goodwill’s advocacy and policy efforts to further its mission of helping people secure employment and build stronger communities.
President and CEO Tom Feurig has placed a priority on relationship-building and regularly invites policymakers to tour the agency’s operations including mission services, donated goods retail and contracts. State Senate Majority Leader Lizbeth Benacquisto (R-30) met with Feurig in August and toured the administrative offices, a Job-Link site, a retail store, the L.I.F.E. Academy charter school and Hatton B. Rogers Retirement Community. She returned in October with three of her staff members to volunteer at the Goodwill’s Trailways Camp for adults with disabilities.
Staff members from the offices of U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio and U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson also met with Goodwill staff to learn about the many ways that Goodwill strengthens families and communities.
“Tom and his staff have done an excellent job of keeping Goodwill’s mission on policymakers’ radar,” said Jim Gibbons, president and CEO of Goodwill Industries International. “Site visits paint a vivid picture of the Goodwill’s successful business and mission services model. They are to be commended for their diligence in advocating for policies that affect the people Goodwill serves.”
The award was presented at a May 15 reception in Washington, DC. The reception is part of Goodwill Industries International’s seventh annual Advocacy Day – “Designing Goodwill into the Future.”
