Local Goodwill Celebrates National Goodwill Industries® Week

Canton, OH – May 9, 2017 – National Goodwill Industries® Week begins Sunday, May 7, and Goodwill Industries of Greater Cleveland & East Central Ohio, Inc. “Goodwill” extends gratitude and thanks to the many shoppers, donors and community partners that help Goodwill make strides towards reaching its vision – creating a community where all people have the opportunity to be the best version of themselves through life improvement and employment skills training.

Goodwill has been serving the local community for nearly 100 years as an independent Goodwill affiliate. While most people recognize Goodwill as a retail thrift chain, that is only a portion of the Goodwill mission. Goodwill is a nonprofit, social service agency dedicated to improving the lives of all people by providing skill-building programs and services needed to help remove common barriers to good jobs and independence.

Most recently, on May 4, Goodwill connected more than 400 Stark County job seekers with a variety of local employers with open positions at a free community job fair.

Goodwill Industries Week celebrates Goodwill’s innovative social enterprise model. Goodwill sells donated items in its 24 stores and online at shopgoodwill.com® to create employment placement services, job training, parenting programs and other integrated services customized to meet the needs of individuals and families within the ten county territory it serves. At Goodwill, this model is called the Cycle of Success. Financial and material donations to Goodwill lead to employment, financial independence and healthy communities.

In 2016, thanks to the support of local businesses, other non-profit organizations, donors, and shoppers, your local Goodwill served 14,438 people. Goodwill serves Cuyahoga, Geauga, part of Lake, Stark, Tuscarawas, Carroll, Jefferson, and Harrison in Ohio, and Brooke and Hancock in West Virginia. Additionally, Goodwill serves as a community partner in recycling and sustainability. In 2016, your local Goodwill diverted 12.6 million pounds of material donations from landfills.

Supporting Goodwill through a financial gift or a material donation means changing a life… for good. This National Goodwill Industries Week, Goodwill encourages all to start a Cycle of Success with a donation to Goodwill. For more information about Goodwill and to donate, please visit www.GoodwillGoodSkills.org.