Each year, millions of people donate items
to community-based Goodwill organizations,
continuing a more than 100-year-old
process to assist their friends
and neighbors in receiving employment
placement, training and education.
Each local Goodwill organization
uses those donations to fuel
a social enterprise that provides
job opportunities and funds other
important job placement and
and training programs to help people
find jobs, earn paychecks
and build their careers.
The idea for Goodwill Industries
was born in Boston in 1902
when Methodist minister
Reverend Edgar J. Helms was in
Theological School.
He was appalled by the conditions
faced by the recent wave of Europeans
arriving to America, and how there
was little being done to assist them
in finding employment to take care
of their families.
Years later, while working at
Morgan Memorial Chapel
in Boston, Massachusetts,
Helms knew help was needed to lessen
the escalating numbers of people
facing employment challenges in the city.
As a result, Helms went
door to door to Boston's wealthiest
citizens with a burlap sack and asked
not for money, but for clothes
in need of repair.
Helms employed people facing
challenges to mend the clothes
for a daily wage.
He then sold those clothes
back to the community, and the mission
of Goodwill was born.
Through his efforts, Helms learned
there was more dignity in receiving
a hand up, not a handout.
When people learn skills to earn
their own paychecks, they have the
power to transform lives
and communities.
Helms believed in giving people
a chance, not charity.
By 1920, Goodwill began to expand
across the United States.
When the stock market crashed
in 1929, local Goodwills stepped in
to provide clothing and other goods
to thousands of people in need.
In 1926, the Methodist Church
sent Helms on a mission around
the world to spread the Goodwill story,
stating that "Goodwill is simply too
powerful an idea to stay within
the borders of one country."
During World War II, local Goodwills
assisted the war effort by not only
putting people to work at home
but also collecting donations and goods
that could be turned into
equipment for the Army.
In 1942, Helms passed away,
leaving his wife, Grace, and 12 children
to continue the Goodwill mission
he had started 40 years earlier.
Following the war, scores of injured
servicemen and women returned home
and experienced trouble finding work
and reintegrating into civilian life.
Community-based Goodwill organizations,
who had been helping wounded veterans
since World War I,
welcomed these men and women
and assisted them
to find gainful employment.
By the 1950's, Goodwill had become
a household name.
Families knew that by donating
clothes and household items to their
local Goodwill, they were helping people
in need of employment.
As donations continued to pour in,
Goodwills employed more and more people
to sort and organize
the clothing and goods.
Goodwills continued to offer greater
numbers of services to help people
who wanted to grow their skills
and find jobs.
Decades before the U.S. Congress
passed the Americans with
Disabilities Act, Goodwill was changing
attitudes about the importance of
people with disabilities in the workplace.
In 1968, the now iconic "Smiling G"
logo was designed to represent
the Goodwill name, and the smiles
that come from helping people
help themselves.
Goodwill organizations continued to
grow and innovate over the
next few decades.
In 1973, the first in many coming
innovative donation center
drop-offs opened.
By 1999, shopgoodwill.com, an online
auction site featuring items
donated to and posted by Goodwills,
was launched across the network.
By its centennial in 2002, Goodwill
had grown from humble origins into
an international nonprofit organization
providing employment placement,
job training services and other
important services to millions of people.
Every Goodwill determines the most
relevant services to its community.
Most offer opportunities for youth,
older workers, veterans and military
families, people with disabilities,
and other people who face challenges
to finding employment.
In 1902, Helms had a vision,
which later evolved into the social
enterprise that it is today across
the U.S. and Canada, along with a Goodwill
presence in many other countries.
His dream for expanding the mission
to reach around the world continues
to benefit millions of people
every year with a hand up towards
a brighter future for themselves
and their families.