EVERY DAY IS CYBER MONDAY ON ONLINEGOODWILL.COM

by Anne Marie Sisk

Shop Till You Drop Without Ever Leaving Home!

Gift giving can lead to the thrill of victory or the agony of defeat depending when you do your shopping.  Finding a parking space at the mall may be the biggest victory, but not finding the right color, size or style of an item for someone you’re shopping for might feel defeating.  So why not stay home?  Forget the fight for a parking space.  Don’t worry about the jostling.  Instead, log on to onlinegoodwill.com where you can bid, browse and buy and check off every name on your list.

Onlinegoodwill.com has more than 1000 items from the most sought-after brands to the rare collectible.  Not only that, but we list as many as 300 new items daily.  Talk about shopping!

So, find those special gifts for the ones you love, while helping change lives by shopping on onlinegoodwill.com.  The proceeds from the sale of every item on the site go towards our Career Solutions programs.  By the time 2011 ends, our Goodwill will have provided free training and job services to more than 11,500 Tennesseans.  Thank you to our onlinegoodwill.com shoppers, our donors and those who support Goodwill’s brick and mortar stores.

Find great gifts for incredible prices:

Nikon D3000 18-55VR Camera Kit NIB item 9005179 ends 12/5.

Wilson Leather #8 Dale Jr. Jacket size M item ends 12/6.

Happy shopping!

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.”

Growing Your Skills While Serving Others

Debbie Grant, Development Director

We often hear people say things such as, “I like helping others, or “I really want to help but don’t know how” and “I just wouldn’t know what to do.”  

If you really enjoy helping others and have a desire to work in the health care field, Goodwill has a great deal for you.

Did you know that Nashville has 56 health care companies located here? Did you know that the labor market has a shortage of skilled nurse assistants who can provide home health care and care at medical facilities? At Goodwill, we are able to help the labor market by training individuals to provide non-medically certified and certified medical care.

Goodwill Career Solutions offers a basic training program called, Health Care Initiatives, with a certified trainer who teaches basic medical terminology, how to take vital signs, and when you graduate you become certified in CPR and first aid. The training is free to our students and takes four weeks to complete. Our graduates have found entry level positions and began earning a paycheck within days of graduation from the training.

But Let’s Not Stop There!

Some of Goodwill’s students want to move up the career ladder in a health care occupation. By enrolling in a five- week certified nursing assistant’s (CNA) training program, you can become a certified nurse assistant and work in a hospital, rehabilitation center or other medical facilities managing patients’ long-term care or acute care.

Our first class is currently engaged in the clinical portion of their training at a local long-term care facility. By early December they will be ready to take the state certification test and earn a credential allowing them to work in a medical facility.

We have employers who have already contacted the program and want to interview our graduates for employment. We have a case manager who will help you with your application process and work with you on other concerns you might have related to training and work. She will help you with your job search, preparing a resume, learning how to complete the job applications and support as you practice your job interview skills. She will provide you with encouragement and stay in touch with you to help you feel supported as you start your new job.

Once you start to work you can identify other jobs in health care that might interest you and begin preparing yourself for taking that next step.

Get started in the medical field today, grow your skills, and help yourself to a better life while you help others.  If you are interested or need more information, call Sharonda Parks at Goodwill’s Career Solutions Center in Nashville at 615-346-1688 and get started on a successful career.  It’s never too late to grow your skills while you help others!