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A Year in Review By Keith Mason
Our team works hard everyday of the year to fulfill the Goodwill mission – to create hope, jobs and futures. In fact, many of us are so focused and dedicated to accomplishing our goals that we don’t always take the time to look up and “smell the roses” or see the fruits of our efforts.
What this team has done during 2004 is amazing to reflect upon. We have nearly doubled the number of individuals served, from 4,610 in 2003 to 8,878 in 2004. We opened a new Charter School, and while it might have been a painful process, we succeeded together and now have 100 youth enrolled. In our retail stores, we have increased revenue by 24% over our budgeted goal and by 31% over last year! We have accepted the generous donations of over half a million donors, nearly a 40% increase over last year. None of this could have happened without team efforts, inside and across departments as well as throughout the organization. I am proud to invite you to join me for a stroll through our major accomplishments during 2004 in the areas you would expect, and some you might not have known about … In Workforce Development we:
At the new Charter School, e-cademie, we:
In Retail we:
In Commercial Services we:
As you can see, it’s been an amazing, impressive, and VERY FULL year of achievements and great strides forward for everyone seeking to fulfill our mission. On behalf of our Board of Directors, Business Advisory Council and especially the 8,000 individuals we have assisted in their quest for the independence a job brings, I thank you!!
Career Centers Serve Record Number of People By Pri Muppirala
Goodwill’s main campus Career Center (417 N. 16th Street) has been providing services to the community since August 2000. In 2004 there was a surge in the number of visitors to the center. Could this increase be contributed to the positive word-of-mouth advertising from our visitors? It’s possible, considering that at our main campus, over 30 visitors a day on average (592 visits a month) have walked through our doors. Goodwill also operates a Career Center in Peoria (8515 N.W. Grand Ave) and recently opened two new Centers in our Northern (3548 W. Northern Ave.) and Greenway (3202 E. Greenway) stores in partnership with the City of Phoenix. These locations average 80 visits per month. Jamie, who is one of the visitors that comes in to utilize services at the main campus stated “I use the Goodwill Career Center to locate a job that I would be at for a number of years. Being able to send free faxes is one of the greatest services available here.”
Goodwill provides the following services to job seekers at our Career Centers:
Goodwill is proud to continue to provide these services to the community! From the Instructor's Chair
As the instructor of the Peoria Computer and Customer Service Class, Jennifer has the unique opportunity to see and hear the successes of Goodwill students first hand. "Some of my proudest moments as an instructor are when I hear from past students who are going on to do great things with their knowledge!" Says Jennifer. "These students are finding rewarding jobs, returning to school or obtaining further training, and improving their quality of life." Here is a sampling of stories from our 2004 graduates.
Proud comments from other graduates and students
Goodwill’s Leadership Team Members Participate in 2nd Annual Event By Karin Johnson
With smiling faces and donation receipts in hand, 12 members of Goodwill’s leadership team recently took on the role of Donation Attendant. From CEO to VP to Director, this group of willing individuals went out to assist at 6 valley stores on one of the busiest donation days of the year, December 30, 2004.
This 2nd annual event gave the leadership team the opportunity to do one of the toughest and most important jobs at Goodwill and to meet and thank our donors personally for their generosity.
With the generous donations from the community and the hard working donation attendants, Goodwill is able to process donations to sell in our retail stores and in turn provide programs that ultimately support our mission to create hope, jobs and futures!
THANK YOU to our donation processing staff who work so hard each day, to our leadership team for lending a helping hand and to our donors who help make our mission a reality! Youth Services - Participants of the Month For each month in 2004, Goodwill’s Youth Services staff selected a participant of the month. This person was chosen because of their dedication to our program as well as to themselves. We are proud of the work we do, however, our program is only successful with the motivation and determination each participant brings.
May 2004 Participant of the Month. Andrew enrolled in April of 2003. Although he had his GED at the time, Andrew was not sure what he wanted to do with his life. Andrew did have an interest in electrical and mechanical maintenance so Goodwill assisted him in finding a school where he would receive formal training. After taking a tour of the Refrigeration School Inc. (RSI), Andrew enrolled into the Electro-Mechanical Technologies program and began classes in July 2003. Despite overcoming some family difficulties during the past year, Andrew completed the program in June and will be furthering his education by obtaining more advanced certifications at RSI. Andrew is a very hard worker and determined to succeed in everything he does.
July 2004 Participant of the Month. A single young mother with a determination to provide a positive future for herself and her son, Justina enrolled in Goodwill’s Youth Services program in March of 2004. Once enrolled, Justina immediately took an interest in the Computer and Customer Service class. After three weeks and 120 classroom hours, Justina successfully completed the class. With her newly obtained skills, she began her job search. For Justina, being naturally gifted with the ability to communicate effectively with diverse people, it was only a short period of time before she had landed a position in the telecommunications field. Seeing how much she had accomplished in a short period of time, Justina has now made obtaining her GED her number one priority!
August 2004 Participant of the Month. Aureliano came to Goodwill in January 2004. The day he interviewed for the youth services program, he knew exactly what he wanted to do and made a firm decision to focus on all of his program goals and his education. With some struggles, a lot of hard work and dedication, he completed his program goals, graduated from Carl Hayden High School and recently secured employment at a bank in the Computer Technology department! Enroll Today!
Make a New Year's resolution to get your High School Diploma!
e-cademie is a state approved charter school and the first charter high school in Arizona to be under the guidance of Goodwill of Central Arizona and represents an innovative approach to addressing the needs of the "whole youth". Located in Phoenix at the Goodwill main campus, e-cademie offers a mixture of core academic subjects and integrates teacher-led instruction and computer-based instruction using a state-of-the-art educational software curriculum. This allows students the opportunity to learn at their own pace and to achieve mastery in each subject before progressing to the next level. e-cademie High School serves students grades 9-12 and provides students an alternative to traditional school with the flexible hours of 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Open enrollment continues throughout the school year! Call us for more information: (602) 416-6400 Save the Date! Come join us as we celebrate e-cademie's first graduating class at their graduation on May 27, 2005!
Did Someone Say Golf? By Karin Johnson
Psst... Have you heard? There’s word on the grapevine that Goodwill has a Golf Tourney on the horizon. |
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