A Mission Moment

Below is a winning essay that was written by a Goodwill of Greater Washington graduate as part of a contest organized by our Training & Employment Division. Each contestant was asked to write an essay describing how Goodwill has impacted their lives and how a new computer would help further their career ambitions. The winner would receive a laptop computer generously donated by Jim and Gladys Lisanby.

How Goodwill Has Changed My Life

By Kiran Khan
Bank Skills Training Alumni
Cycle 11

When I was a child, my dad wrote a sentence in my school notebook: “enter to learn and out to serve.” As the time passed, I entered in many institutes and learned different things but could not give out. When I heard about Goodwill from one of my friend, I decided to give it my last shot and tried my luck once more. -- Read More

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Goodwill Celebrates the 144th Birthday of our Founder, Edgar J. Helms on January 19th

Goodwill Industries International was founded in 1902 in Boston by Rev. Edgar J. Helms. Helms collected used household goods and clothing in wealthier areas of the city, then trained and hired poor people and immigrants to mend and repair the used goods. The goods were then resold or were given to the people who repaired them. The system worked, and the Goodwill philosophy of “a hand up, not a hand out” was born. -- Read More

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Senate Passes the Green Jobs Act (12/17/07)

On December 13, the U.S. Senate voted 86-8 to pass a comprehensive energy bill (H.R. 6), which includes provisions for “green jobs” and grant funding for which Goodwills could eventually apply.

The “green jobs” component would authorize up to $125 million for the U.S. Department of Labor -- in consultation with the Department of Energy -- to establish an Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Worker Training Program. This initiative would develop a workforce in renewable energy and energy-efficient industries. The program would include the following three grant programs:

* National Energy Grants
* A State Energy Training Partnership Program
* A Pathways Out of Poverty Program, in which nonprofits, such as Goodwill Industries, would be eligible to participate.

The Senate’s passage of the bill ended a week of suspense on the fate of the bill. While the House on December 6 passed a similar version of the bill, Republican opposition to provisions that would have increased taxes on the oil and gas industries brought the bill to a screeching halt in the Senate. In the end, the tax provisions were stripped from the bill, and the bill passed with overwhelming support. Due to changes made to the bill since its December 6 vote, the House must again approve the bill as passed by the Senate. House members are expected to consider the bill this week, and the President is expected to sign it.

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IRS Releases Final 2008 Form 990 for Tax-Exempt Organizations, Adjusts Filing Threshold to Provide Transition Relief

WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service issued an updated version of Form 990, the return that charities and other tax-exempt organizations are required to file annually, and provided transition relief so that small exempt organizations will have time to adjust to the new form.

“When we released the redesigned draft form this past June, we said we needed a Form 990 that reflects the way this growing sector operates in the 21st century,” said Steven T. Miller, Commissioner of the IRS’ Tax Exempt and Government Entities division. “The public comments we received in response to our draft form helped us develop a final form consistent with our guiding principles of transparency, compliance and burden minimization.” -- Read More

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Goodwill of Greater Washington Featured on CNN and The Washington Post!

On Sunday, December 23rd and again on Monday, December 24th, Goodwill of Greater Washington was the subject of a story on CNN and CNN Headline News. The feature aired Sunday afternoon at 4:50PM and then several more times on CNN Headline News the following day. The story was also picked up by the local CBS affiliate (WUSA TV, channel 9) as well as other CBS and ABC stations around the country. The story focused on Goodwill of Greater Washington (GGW) Retail Stores as a great alternative for holiday shopping and how GGW is using the internet to reach a new audience of shoppers and communicate its job training mission. To see the story, just click on the link below.

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2007/12/23/nurenberg.goodwill.cheap.cnn?iref=videosearch

GGW was also included in a story in the Home section of The Washington Post on Thursday, January 3rd as a great destination for donating and finding vintage music. Vinyl and books on tape are hot items at Goodwill Stores. If you’re in the market or have music to donate, please think of Goodwill. To see a copy of the story, just click on the link below.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/02/AR2008010200793.html

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