Saying ‘Thank You’ Just Doesn’t Seem Adequate.

Jennifer Kalifa, Donations Manager

 Saying ‘thank you’ just doesn’t seem adequate.  How can I, how can all of us at Goodwill, thank you enough for all the donations you give?  Without you, our donors, Goodwill could not fulfill its mission of providing free employment and training services throughout Middle and West Tennessee.  Without you we could not serve the more than 11,000 Tennesseans who will visit our 17 Career Solutions Centers for help with their job search.  Without you we could not employ 1,600 Tennesseans who work throughout the 46 counties served by our Goodwill.  Without you, lives could not be changed.

 Just how do your gently-used items help Goodwill serve its mission?  The items you donate are immediately put to good use.  They are processed and transported to each of the 30 Goodwill stores in Middle and West Tennessee.  More than 85 percent of the revenue from the sale of each piece of merchandise is used to provide mission services.   

 To read about some of the people who’ve been helped because of the generosity of you, our donors, and to calculate what your donations mean to others, please visit our website.  Add up what each piece of clothing, every household item or electronic donation means in terms of free job services.  You’ll see that you really do change lives.  And for that we say, “Thank you.”

D Movement: The Final Days of Project Organize

By NaTisha Moultry, Community Relations Manager

Enter Project Organize by September 30!

As we approach the final days of the Project Organize contest, I started thinking about the reason we created the contest. Most people have a hectic schedule with work, kids and social activities. Getting organized can be overwhelming at times and some people may feel like it is an impossible task. I wanted a fun way to encourage people to clear the clutter in their homes, offices or garage while offering them an incentive for doing so. I was actually at home cleaning my own closets and I wished that I had some help getting things organized. I also thought about how wonderful it would be to have someone else clean after everything was neatly put away. And that was how the idea of working with a professional organizer and cleaning crew was born.

Project Organize offers great prizes; a three-room makeover by Complete Organizing Solutions, a five hour cleaning by Angel Maids, as much as five hundred dollars worth of products from the Container Store and a one-hundred dollar Goodwill gift card.

I encourage all families, whether you win Project Organize or not, to create your own campaign to clear the clutter in your home. Encourage the kids to donate clothing they can no longer wear or toys they no longer play with. Go through the kitchen cabinets, closets and the garage. Donate any usable items that your family no longer needs to Goodwill. Not only are you creating a clutter-free environment in your home, you are also helping Goodwill fulfill our mission of providing employment and training opportunities to people in the community.

If you could clear the clutter in three rooms in your home, what would they be?

D Movement: Project Organize – Kick the clutter to the curb!

By Tanna Clark, Complete Organizing Solutions

Enter to Win Project Organize!

Let the yard sale season begin! As the cooler weather approaches it’s time to kick the clutter to the curb, with price tags of course!

This is the best time of year to get your house back in order after the busy days of summer, and to prepare for the upcoming holidays. The best way to do that is to declutter. It’s time to take a walk through the house room-by-room to gather all of those items you no longer use or love.

In order to have a successful yard sale here are a few tips:

1. Team with your neighbors. A community yard sale gets much more traffic than a solo sale. Pitch in with your neighbors to put a larger ad in the paper.

2. Price as you declutter. You can buy a pack of pre-labeled stickers with yard sale prices already printed.on them.

3. Set-up the night before. Prepare household items and clothing the night before the sale, preferably in the garage. Move the tables closer to the street the morning of the sale.

4. Get the kids involved. Our most successful yard sale was one in which we had the kids set up a table selling cookies we baked the day before. Cookies are a perfect snack for your shoppers and it drives in more traffic!

The most important clutter-fighting rule is to not let it back in. Once your sale is over pack it all up and head to your local Goodwill donation location or store. All too often we let the clutter back in to take care of it later and later never comes. Take care of it now in order to benefit a greater cause.

Good luck and have fun!

D Movement: Project Organize

By Tanna Clark, Complete Organizing Solutions

School is in full swing and you may be looking around at the clutter summer has left in its wake wondering how you’ll ever get back to normal! Don’t worry. Goodwill’s Project Organize is stepping in to help you clear the clutter and regain control at home!

That’s right! One lucky Middle Tennessean will win a three-room clutter rehabilitation from Complete Organizing Solutions. This will be the fourth year I have partnered with Goodwill to help a harried family get organized.  This year there’s even more! To help celebrate the upcoming opening of The Container Store in The Mall at Green Hills, the folks at the store have offered $500 in products to be used for Project Organize!

If that doesn’t sound like bliss already, we have something special planned to reward the homeowner for all of their hard work while decluttering. Angel Maids has kindly donated five hours of cleaning!

The contest runs from September 1st – September 30th. Enter here!

In the meantime here are a few tips to get you started on your next organizing project:

1. Sometimes the largest barrier to getting organized is just getting started! You may be looking at your whole house thinking “Where do I start?” That kind of thinking is likely to get you stuck in a disorganized rut. Stop focusing on the big picture and mentally separate your house into bite size manageable goals and work your way through them.
2. Don’t buy a single organizing product until you have sorted and weeded out what doesn’t belong. Containers can become clutter, too! Make sure you know what you need before stocking up on supplies.
3. Think outside the box. Get creative with your storage options. Just because that shoe organizer hanging on the door is for “shoes” it doesn’t mean you can’t find other uses for it  A pocket shoe organizer is great for toiletries, hats and gloves, or for smaller items in the pantry!

Most important – don’t let the clutter overwhelm you.  Think simple!

Goodwill Industries of Middle Tennessee, Inc., has been serving Middle and West Tennessee for more than 50 years and Project Organize is one of its ways of saying thank you for your support and donations!

What room in your home would you most like to clear the clutter?

Happy Anniversary to the Donate Movement!

Last June, Goodwill Industries International launched the global initiative to raise awareness about the positive impact of donating to Goodwill Industries®. When you donate to Goodwill, you are not only keeping gently used clothing and household goods out of landfills, but you are supporting vital community programs.

Did you know that more than 85 percent of Goodwill Industries of Middle Tennessee, Inc.’s, revenue is used to provide the free job training and services offered at the company’s 17 Career Solutions Centers? Goodwills in the U.S. and Canada average 84 percent of their revenue being used for the job programs that are offered. In 2010, Goodwill Industries of Middle Tennessee, Inc. served 11,200 clients while 2,915 clients found employment. Goodwill agencies around the world served 2.5 million people, and, at year’s end, they employed more than 97,000 people.

The Donate Movement helped Goodwills throughout the U.S. and Canada attract 20 million more donors in 2010 than in 2009, which means we earned more revenue and were able to serve more people. Goodwill Industries International, and Goodwill Industries of Middle Tennessee, Inc., launched the Donate Movement Web site, which features the Donation Impact Calculator (patent pending), allowing you to see how your donations can fund Goodwill’s services. For example, donating just one coat or jacket provides 11 minutes of career counseling to a Goodwill program participant.

During the past year, Goodwill Industries International partnered with major corporations and partnered with Lorrie Marrero, Certified Professional Organizer® as a spokesperson and ambassador for the Donate Movement. Marrero is creator of The Clutter Diet® and author of the best-selling book by the same name, as well as a contributor to Good Housekeeping.

Four corporate cause-marketing partnerships helped the Donate Movement gain momentum. Goodwill’s first partner, Levi & Strauss, Co., began putting “A Care Tag for Our Planet” in their jeans and other products. The tag instructs people to Wash Less, Wash Cold, Line Dry and Donate to Goodwill. Not only does this raise awareness of corporate social responsibility and Goodwill’s brand, but it also reduces energy consumption and diverts items from landfills.

Other partnerships include:

• Family Circle: Goodwill teamed up with the national magazine to encourage readers to organize “Back to School” donation drives, resulting in approximately 20 million pounds of clothing being diverted from landfills.

• Hanes®: The clothing manufacturer partnered with Goodwill, deeming March national “Clean Out Your Drawers Month.” Celebrities Bethenny Frankel and Michael Moloney provided tips on how to de-clutter and organize for spring. The campaign encouraged people to donate the items they no longer use to Goodwill.

• Planet Green™ — the television network devoted to conscious living – leveraged its multi-media platform, to spread the message about the positive impact donations have for our communities and the environment.

Just as you carefully consider to which organizations you will donate your money, you should also consider which organizations should receive your donated goods. When you donate to Goodwill Industries of Middle Tennessee, Inc., you can be assured that you are making a positive impact on both people and the planet.

How often do you donate to Goodwill, and what is your strategy for deciding what to donate?

D Movement: Simplify your Life by Donating to Goodwill

Courtesy of Goodwill Industries International

Spring presents the perfect time to take a fresh look at the items in your home and decide what should stay and what should go. As you de-clutter your home, Goodwill Industries® of Middle Tennessee can put your unwanted items to good use. When you donate your gently used clothing, housewares and electronics, you are helping Goodwill® provide job training and community- based services to people in your local community.

Here are the top four things that people don’t think to donate.

1. Shoes: When you use the Donations Calculator you’ll discover that when you give one dozen pairs of shoes you provide more than one hour’s worth of free career counseling for someone who is searching for a job with the help of Goodwill’s career counselors. It’s more than just a good way to clean the clutter from your closets, avoid the hassle of a yard sale or to take advantage of a tax write-off. Your donated shoes fund job training and placement for people who want to work but may have a disability or other barrier standing in their way.

2. Books: If you’ve already read a book and have no plans to read it again, donate it to Goodwill. Donating books frees valuable shelf space and makes room for new ones. Check your children’s rooms for outgrown kid’s books or your kitchen for cookbooks you haven’t consulted in the last year.

3. Clothing: You can let go of the jeans that never quite fit or that sweater that wasn’t quite your style. Goodwill gladly accepts donations of gently used clothing. As you’re cleaning out your closet, put clothing donations in a pile and, when you’re finished, bring them to your nearest Goodwill donation express center. When you’re finished going through your closet, that pile might be bigger than you bargained for!

4. Housewares: Sometimes we inherit household items from others or receive them as gifts. If you have a second toaster, vacuum cleaner or blender that you don’t need, donate it to Goodwill.

More than 1.5 million donors have given their gently used items to Goodwill, helping their neighbors build careers and make positive contributions to their communities. Last year, Goodwill served more than 11,000 people in our communities; including people with disabilities, those who lack education or work experience and others facing challenges to finding employment.

One expert who knows all about the process of de-cluttering is Lorie Marrero, Certified Professional Organizer®, contributor to Good Housekeeping and spokesperson for Goodwill’s Donate Movement. She is also the author of The Clutter Diet: The Skinny on Organizing Your Home and Taking Control of Your Life and the creator of ClutterDiet.com, an innovative program that teaches people how to organize their closets, businesses and homes. An organizing expert, Marrero has first-hand knowledge about spring cleaning and the importance of donating gently used items to environmentally sustainable organizations such as Goodwill.

To calculate the impact of your donation or to find a Goodwill Donation Express Center, visit www.giveit2goodwill.org.

What items are making it into your Goodwill donation box?

D Movement: Donate Forward March 20 – 26

Karl Houston, Senior Director of Marketing and Community Relations

One of my favorite movies, “Pay It Forward,” starred Haley Joel Osment who portrayed a 12-year-old boy who wanted to make the world a better place. In the movie, he does a favor for someone, without any expectation of being paid back. That simple concept was a hit off the silver screen in the U.S. and beyond. A social movement was born with the only expectation being that for every request you make, do the same for others. Pay it forward.

As I think about the history of Goodwill, when in 1902, Boston’s Rev. Edgar J. Helms, had a desire to make his community a better place through the act of giving people a chance to earn a living. Rev. Helms would gather burlap sacks and visit the wealthier residents in his community asking for items they no longer needed or wanted. After collecting the donations, Rev. Helms took the items to his church where people repaired what was broken and then sold the used goods. He didn’t believe in charity. The reverend gave people an opportunity. Those he worked with found success through their own efforts and with work, they gained the dignity that comes with earning a paycheck. Like the young boy in the movie, his goodwill efforts became a movement that would eventually grow internationally.

This simple concept of reciprocity is still central to our mission here at Goodwill. With every donation made to Goodwill, we feel a sense of obligation to pay it forward by giving someone an opportunity to earn a living. We believe it begins with us being good stewards of your donations and ensuring that we maximize your donations to have the greatest impact on individuals, families and our community.

From the time we receive your donation, your donations are supporting a growing list of free job training programs and continuing services offered by Career Solutions. How so? When you donate to Goodwill, things like clothes, small appliances, furniture, and toys, at one of our 67 Donation Express Centers, your donations provide jobs and free job training services.

Each item is handled by an attendant, many of whom may have some barrier to employment. The journey continues when the items are transported to our Goodwill’s main processing plant in Nashville where each piece is processed by Goodwill employees for resale, many of whom have disabilities or other disadvantages. Your donated items are then sent to one of our 30 retail stores for resale.

Once each item sells, with the help of our retail staff, again many of whom have come through our job training programs, the revenue from that sale supports our community-based employment and training programs. Thanks to you, these programs provide thousands of hours of free classes and on-the-job training to thousands of individuals in our communities who have an economic, educational, social or vocational barrier to employment.

The bottom line? When you donate forward, your donations become an investment in the futures of the thousands of individuals who participate in our programs and services each year, and an investment in our communities. It’s a good thing!

Join our movement during the week of March 20 and donate forward.

Have you calculated your impact?

D Movement: Calculate Your Spring Cleaning Impact

By Jennifer Kalifa, Donations Manager

Spring is in the air! Yes it is. Does anyone feel like you need to do some Spring cleaning? Cleaning out closets and drawers is a great way to start a new season. Really, come on get these items into Goodwill, where you can change lives. Goodwill is in need of gently-used items that you no longer need. We turn your items into jobs. Jobs for those who need help finding one and gaining that feeling of independence.

I know what it’s like to help someone change their life. I see it every day with the members of my team. For instance, Byron Sheffield. I know you’ve seen him in Goodwill’s television commercials. He is a real life success story and I’m pleased to say that I had a hand in helping Byron become the man he is today. When I worked in Goodwill’s retail department he was an attendant at one of our stores. He impressed me with how hard he worked to please the donors. Today he is a donations supervisor.

Since coming to the donations department I have watched him grow in so many areas. He now has some computer knowledge and creates the schedule for all of the employees who work for him. In a nutshell, he has just really shown me that the sky is the limit with him. This is what your donations do for people. How awesome is that? It gives me chill bumps just thinking about how cool it is to be a part of a company that really does change lives.

Have you calculated your impact?

The Making of the Goodwill TV Commercials

By Jimmy Chaffin, Partner, DVL Public Relations and Advertising

Several years ago DVL had the pleasure of creating a new advertising campaign designed to capture and explain the mission of Goodwill and how what you give provides jobs and changes lives.

Our approach was simple:  let the Goodwill employees’ whose lives have been changed tell you their own stories and explain that when you donate your gently-used items, you give far more than a donation. When you give to Goodwill, you give confidence, dignity, purpose, hope and happiness.

The popularity of the first campaign has now become a series featuring dozens of Goodwill employees.   Through the years we’ve had the honor of flying an American flag with Steven, delivering cookies with Pam, shooting pool with Teresa, sharing dinner with Rai, going fishing with Miss Currie, and reliving Byron’s wedding day, just to name a few.

This year we met Tonya and spent the day enjoying her son’s baseball game.  We also met Robert and his family who, despite all being blind, enjoy going bowling together.  But Robert isn’t just a bowler, he’s also a singer who composed and performed his own original song, “It’s a Good Day.”

Each year we meet brings a host of inspiring new people who share their amazing stories.  People, who despite being disabled, handicapped, disadvantaged, homeless or a facing host of other barriers, have reached out to Goodwill and found help.

They will tell you how blessed they are, how much they enjoy going to work every day, how much they love the people they work with and that Goodwill really has changed their lives.

Our agency is fortunate to share in these moments and have a relationship with a client that provides an opportunity to participate in something that truly makes a difference.  Because something that started out as a way to show how a donation changes others’ lives has turned into something that has also changed ours.

Thank you Goodwill for changing lives.

D Movement: The Ripple Effect

By Scott Bryant, Manager of Advertising and Creative Services

2011 calendar available in stores now

When I think of Goodwill I think of a drop of water, or in our case, one donation that starts the ripple effect. Lives are changed by that one item that goes through an amazing cycle, in turn providing many people in the communities we serve, the chance to work.

You see, it all starts with you. Whether it is a sweater that no longer fits your taste or a lamp that just doesn’t match your décor anymore, your donations start an empowering ripple across Goodwill.

The concept is simple yet the impact is greater than you can ever imagine. And it is because of this impact that we decided to design a calendar just for you so you will realize how your generous donations have changed so many lives. The funds generated by the sale of your donations help thousands of Tennesseans find and keep jobs.  We are so grateful for everything you donate to Goodwill.

A job is not just a job for the 12 people you will meet in the calendar.

Because you give, they have a chance to be better parents, children, siblings, employees and members of their community.

Because of your donations, you have made an impact on their lives and everyone at Goodwill.

And the ripple continues because of you.

Preview the 2011 calendar available in stores now.