Filed under: General | Tags: Community Resource Center, Donations, Job Training
This past weekend was the 70th birthday of the late singer/songwriter John Lennon. Lennon became a household name as a member of The Beatles, and later in life as a solo artist. VH1 had a great “Behind the Music” segment about Lennon and his career, family life and legacy.
If you’ve ever been to Central Park in New York City, the area of the park across the street from Lennon’s former home, The Dakota, there is a spot dedicated to the memory of John Lennon. With a simple marker stating “Imagine” this area known as Strawberry Fields, is a reminder of one of Lennon’s more well-known songs, “Imagine”.
Part of the lyrics read:
Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world
Now, I’m not advocating for people to get rid of all their possessions. What I am guilty of is keeping things that I no longer need or even want for that matter. Maybe it’s the fear of getting rid of that jacket only to wish I had it the next day. Maybe it’s the guilt of spending money on something, only to end up not even using it. For others it is a feeling of obligation – if she gave me this, then I have to want it. Fear, guilt and obligation can show-up in my life, but I definitely don’t want it to be the reason my closet doesn’t close or I have stuff collecting dust.
Goodwill Industries thrives because of the donations that are delivered to our doors every day. Since items are re-sold in our stores, everything gets a second chance. In turn, your donations and purchases, enable someone get a second chance – at life, happiness, and self-sufficiency through gainful employment. Every day our Community Resource Centers in Guilford, Randolph and Rockingham counties had people walk through their doors searching for job training assistance. They aren’t looking for a hand out, they are looking for someone to provide a hand-up.
In 1963, Goodwill Industries of Central North Carolina was established to serve residents of the Triad area. In 1971, Lennon sang of an idyllic society, where help was given when it was needed. As Triad Goodwill approaches its 50th anniversary of service to the community, we continue to promote the message of giving.
Give what you can, whether small or large, your donations do make a difference!
I adore summer. It’s always been my favorite season for many different reasons, but since I started working at Goodwill, I’ve found one more reason to love summer. Each summer Goodwill partners with the Greensboro Grasshoppers to present Goodwill Game Day.
Throughout the season Goodwill encourages fans to “pitch their donations to Goodwill” at our donation bins that are conviently located at the Grasshoppers stadium. Every Friday home game during the summer is Goodwill Game Day and we set up a table on the concourse to interact with fans. Some days we have the prize wheel set up to give away some cool Goodwill swag and other times the Goodwill Guy stops by to say hi.
For those who haven’t had a chance to go to a game yet this season or who haven’t stopped by our booth, here’s a little taste of what you’re missing. Hope to see you next Friday!
At Goodwill we’re used to getting interesting donations. Most of the time we take a few moments to admire, inspect or laugh about the item that has been donated and we move on to the next one. On occasion an item will come through the donation doors that requires a little more care.
Yesterday the manager at our Madison store found a grenade while sorting donations. The news report can be read here. Luckily the grenade was not live and the Greensboro Bomb Squad quickly removed it from the premise.
Even though this type of donation is not the norm, I figured this would be a good time to review the items Goodwill doesn’t accept as donations. You can find a complete list of items Goodwill does and does not accept on our website.
Goodwill does not accept:
Ammunition
Auto Parts
Building Materials
Chemicals
Children’s Items that contain lead
Large Appliances
Mattresses
Recalled Items
Televisions or Stereos Older than 10 Years
Items in Poor Condition
Filed under: Retail and Donations | Tags: Contest, Donations, Green Music Group, The Roots
Goodwill Industries has partnered with Green Music Group and The Roots to promote a great way to make eco-friendly changes in your life: by donating your unwanted clothing and household items.
All this week The Roots are encouraging fans to donate unwanted clothing and household items to Goodwill. Take the challenge by noon ET on Friday, May 21st and you could win DJ Hero plus a $300 Best Buy gift card. You will also be entered for a chance to win a Honda Insight Hybrid!
Green Music Group is a coalition of musicians, industry leaders and music fans using their collective power to bring about widespread environmental change within the music industry and around the globe. For more information, or to register for the contest, visit Green Music Group.
Filed under: Retail and Donations | Tags: Donations, Greensboro Grasshoppers
For the fourth year, Goodwill has teamed up with the Greensboro Grasshoppers to promote Goodwill Game Day. The partnership promotes “pitching your donations to Goodwill” by supplying donation bins at every home game to collect your gently used clothes and household items.
With the help of Ham’s Restaurants, we’ve also been able to sweeten the deal when you donate at Friday home games. Those who donate that day will receive a coupon for a free basket of Ham’s homemade chips. You might also want to stop by the Goodwill table on the concourse during Friday games as well. This is a great place to pick up some cool Goodwill swag, spin our prize wheel or possibly get a sighting of the Goodwill Guy. We look forward to seeing you at one of the Goodwill Game Days!
A few months ago we started a donation drive with Harley Davidson of Greensboro. It was an ongoing drive that encouraged Harley Davidson customers to donate their gently used items to Goodwill in return for coupons on new Harley merchandise.
The feedback we received was amazing but we couldn’t put an actual number on the success of the donation drive until we picked up the donation bins. Last week the donation totals were finally complete and we’re excited to announce that Harley Davidson raised over 300 pounds of clothing donations!
Many thanks to the Harley Davidson of Greensboro employees and customers who donated. We’re already looking forward to next year.
Filed under: Retail and Donations | Tags: Donations, Food Bank, Goodwill Industries of Northwest NC, Second Harvest
Seven months ago Goodwill began accepting food donations at all of our locations as part of a partnership with Second Harvest Food Bank. Since then, we’ve heard nothing but wonderful feedback from our donors. They appreciate the convenience of being able to support two non-profits while only making one stop.
Recently we also heard some great feedback from Second Harvest, which included the donation results from the first three months of our partnership (October – December). Triad Goodwill and Goodwill Industries of Northwest North Carolina raised 4,737 pounds of food combined. What exactly does that mean? Here’s the breakdown:
Second Harvest estimates that 1.2 pounds equals one meal. That means that 4,737 pounds of food equals about 3,947 meals. And 3,947 meals can feed a family of four that eats three meals a day for 329 days!
Those numbers are a testament to how much our community cares about one another. Despite tough times, our donors have continued to support Goodwill’s job training efforts by donating clothing and household goods. Our donors also took a stand in the fight against hunger by donating enough food to feed a family of four for almost one year. And, to all of those donors, we say thank you. Thank you for making the Triad a better place for all of us.
Daffodils, thunderstorms, strawberries: these are just a few of my favorite spring things. I’ve been enjoying all of them since the season officially began last week, but I’ve been avoiding one of my less favorite spring traditions: cleaning.
The cleaning doesn’t overwhelm me, but all the stuff in my apartment does. Over the winter, so many things have piled up: books that never got read, clothes that got too small, craft supplies that got forgotten. These piles represent my best intentions and my worst results. They will continue to haunt me until I exorcise them from my apartment, so I might as well get started.
As tempting as it is to throw all of my failed projects into the dumpster, I’d rather turn this into an opportunity to do something good for our environment and for our community. That’s why I’m going to donate anything that’s still usable (by a thinner, more disciplined person) to Goodwill. For a complete list of what you can (and can’t) donate to Goodwill, visit our website. That way, someone who is trying to reduce their consumption by buying second-hand can reuse the item. That’s two out of three Rs — not too shabby!
The third R will come in handy with the items I can’t donate. Greensboro has a great recycling program that accepts everything from Coke cans to Cosmo magazines. For a a complete list of what you can (and can’t) recycle, visit the city’s website.
Reducing waste by donating to Goodwill and recycling is just one way you can go green when you spring clean. For more ideas, visit Planet Green.
For the last three and a half years I’ve worked part time at a retail store in the mall that specializes in prom dresses. Therefore I consider myself pretty well versed in the tradition of prom dress shopping. I’ve watched high school girls come in and try on every dress in search of “the one”. I’ve seen the panic in a girl’s eyes when she realizes that another student has “her dress”. And I’ve witnessed, on more than one occasion, the shock on a parent’s face when the final total is announced.
When I first started working at Goodwill two years ago we had just launched a new prom dress promotion and I was so excited to get to be a part of it. The Give a Girl a Gown promotion encourages local residents to donate formal dresses to Goodwill in exchange for a coupon to a local retailer. Those formal dresses are then made available for purchase in our Goodwill stores. The best part of the whole deal is that the dresses are generally priced under $25. This means high school students have the opportunity to pick out a beautiful prom dress and the parents don’t suffer from sticker shock.
This year we’ve partnered with 107.5 KZL, Rebecca & Co and Perch in order to make it our best prom dress promotion yet. This year everyone who donates a formal dress before March 26 will receive a 15% off coupon good towards the purchase of any formal dress or cocktail wear at Rebecca & Co or Perch stores. Dresses can be dropped off at any Rebecca & Co or Perch locations as well as any Goodwill location in the Triad. The donated dresses will be available at the Goodwill Store on Battleground Avenue in Greensboro or the Goodwill Store on Samet Drive in High Point starting Saturday, March 27 at 9:00am.
Prom is such an important event in the lives of high school students and every girl deserves to feel like a princess. Plus you can’t argue with a price tag of less than $25. So clean out your closet and bring those dress donations to Goodwill! Or better yet, come check out our prom dress selection beginning March 27.
I switched my monthly desktop calendar from February to March today. I was excited to start a new month with new projects but then I realized something. March Madness is upon us! And since Greensboro is hosting the 2010 ACC Tournament, you could say the college basketball frenzy has really hit us hard.
We’ve got some huge basketball fans here at Goodwill. We’ve got UNC alums and Florida State super fans. In fact, I bet if I looked hard enough I could find a fan for each team in the ACC. And since Goodwill employees love the ACC, we were pretty sure that our customers would really love to get in on the ACC Tournament action. So in the spirit of March Madness we figured out a way to send 10 lucky donors to an ACC Men’s Tournament game!
On Saturday, March 6th we’ll be holding a Donation Drive at the Goodwill Donation Center located at The Village of North Elm (301 Pisgah Church Road, near Chick-Fil-A). We’ll be accepting donations at this location from 8:00am – 6:00pm. When you donate clothing or household items you will eligible to put your name in a drawing for a pair of tickets to a Tournament game. The best part of the whole thing is that we will be drawing names every hour! That’s 10 chances to win!
It’s a win-win for everyone. You get a chance to win tickets to an ACC Tournament game as well as get a head start on spring cleaning. We use your donations to fund our job training centers in the Triad. For more information about the job training opportunities we offer to the community visit www.TriadGoodwill.org.
