Every year during the first full week of May, Goodwill organizations across the United States and Canada celebrate Goodwill Industries Week to highlight the Goodwill mission — transforming lives through the power of work. This year, Goodwill Industries Week runs May 5 – 11.
While the U.S. unemployment rate has recently hit record lows, many communities still struggle with poverty, homelessness and lack of access to good-paying jobs. Goodwill has a long history of helping people acquire the skills and training they need to find meaningful employment so they can support their families and contribute to their communities.
“Despite the strong employment market, many people do not have the skills or the access to benefit from it,” said Steven C. Preston, president and CEO of Goodwill Industries International. “About 7 million jobs are currently unfilled, while many Americans remain underemployed or in low-paying jobs. Goodwill works alongside individuals to give them a vision for a better future as well as the tools and support to achieve it. Goodwill Industries Week is a time to shine a light on the success of those individuals, and on the local Goodwill organizations, community partners and employers who work together to support them.”
Local Goodwill organizations first celebrated Goodwill Industries Week in May 1951 as a way to educate people about the Goodwill mission, defined at that time as, “helping people with disabilities help themselves.”
Today, Goodwill serves anyone facing challenges to finding employment, including people with disabilities and disadvantages, older workers, youth, veterans and military families, and people reintegrating back into society from the justice system. Goodwill helps anyone, regardless of educational level or economic background, reach their full potential through learning and the power of work.
Goodwill sells donated items in more than 3,300 stores in the United States and Canada and online at shopgoodwill.com®. The revenue creates job placement and training programs to help people earn paychecks and build their careers.
Eighty-seven cents of every dollar a consumer spends at Goodwill goes back into local communities to help people build careers of significance and lives of meaning. Every 25 seconds of every business day, a person served by Goodwill earns a good job.
ABOUT GOODWILL INDUSTRIES INTERNATIONAL
Goodwill Industries International (GII) is a network of 160 community-based, autonomous organizations in the United States and Canada with a presence in 13 other countries. GII is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that is recognized by GuideStar with its Platinum Seal of Approval, the organization’s highest rating for charities. For the past three years, Goodwill was ranked in the top five brands that inspired consumers the most with its mission in the World Value Index, commissioned by the creative agency, enso. Goodwill has been on Forbes’ list of top 20 most inspiring companies for three consecutive years, the only nonprofit featured on that list.
Local Goodwill organizations are innovative and sustainable social enterprises that offer job placement and training services, and other community-based programs by selling donated clothing and household items in more than 3,300 stores collectively and online at shopgoodwill.com®.
Goodwill helps people facing challenges to finding employment, including people with disabilities, veterans and military families, youth and young adults, older workers, people reintegrating into society, and others working to advance their careers. Local Goodwill organizations build revenues and expand employment opportunities by contracting with commercial, state, government and non-government organizations to provide a wide range of business services, including janitorial and grounds maintenance, flexible staffing, food service, manufacturing and contracts packaging, reverse logistics, document imaging and shredding, and laundry services.
Last year, local Goodwill organizations collectively placed more than 288,000 people in employment in the United States and Canada. In addition, more than 36 million people used computers and mobile devices to access Goodwill education, training, mentoring and online learning services to strengthen their skills, and more than two million people received in-person services.
Goodwill is both an icon and accessible neighbor: more than 82 percent of the U.S. population resides within 10 miles of a Goodwill location.
For more information or to find a Goodwill location near you, visit goodwill.org, or call (800) GOODWILL. Follow us on Twitter: @GoodwillIntl and @GoodwillCapHill, and find us on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube: GoodwillIntl.