Goodwill in Depth: By Doreen Nowakowski

Whenever people think of Goodwill they usually think of our Retail Stores, in fact many times when I tell people I work at Goodwill their first comment is usually – “Which store do you work at?”    I love it when they say this because it gives me an opportunity to tell people exactly what Goodwill really does!!!!   

I usually start by telling them that I really don’t work in a store, I work in an office in the Ashtabula Harbor above the Harbor Goodwill Store.   I tell them I help with their accounting and help with their contracts program.   I explain our mission of providing job training and placement for people for many varied backgrounds.  Usually they respond with something like, “I knew they helped people.”  This gives me the perfect opportunity to really impress.

I then tell them that in order to help people Goodwill provides many different types of work activity positions for them to try work experience in the community in the hope of finding the “right job fit for them”.  I ask them if they were aware that we offer custodial and lawn care services and they usually respond no.  I tell them Goodwill has custodial crews that work 24/7 maintaining the rest areas on I90 in Ashtabula and Lake Counties and on Route 11 in Ashtabula County.  We also clean offices extending our services and opportunities into Cortland and Canfield.  This gets their attention.  Then I mention we also provide lawn care services for Ohio American Water, Dominion East Ohio Gas Company, the City of Conneaut and others.  Now they are really impressed.  I explain that the stores and the contracts departments are merely a means to the end – A JOB FOR EVERYONE!

This year I am happy to report I can now tell them goodwill is running the concession stand at Walnut Beach.  This will provide an avenue for Goodwill to teach Food Service and Food Safety Skills and we will be providing Serve Safe training in the near future.  At Goodwill our team never stops helping people help themselves to a better future and we are glad to be able to assist in providing opportunities to people who are looking for a hand up.