Goodwill triggers success for thousands

Gary Smith, president and CEO of Goodwill Industries of Mid-Michigan, was the featured speaker at the East Side Business Association meeting April 27.

Smith, a graduate of UM-Flint, posed the question: "Is Goodwill Industries a business or a charity that operates like a business?"

According to Smith both statements are true.

A Methodist minister whose parish consisted of poor immigrants in Boston, the Rev. Edgar Helms, started Goodwill Industries in 1902. To help meet his parishioners' needs, he went door-to-door asking wealthy people for clothing and supplies they no longer needed.

He was going to give the goods away but found his immigrants were too proud for handouts. So he had his members refurbish the items and sell them. With the money from the sales he paid his staff and the first Goodwill store was born.

"Another Methodist minister founded the Flint Goodwill in 1931," said Smith.

"Today, the organization is nonsectarian and serves a 10-county area with 14 stores and seven donation centers," he said.

However, the retail stores are only part of the operation for the fourth-largest U.S. charity.

"Today we're focused on helping people with barriers to employment learn the skills they need to find jobs," Smith said. "We work with the Michigan prisoner re-entry program to train ex-offenders to be productive employees. It's a  lot cheaper to train them than to support them for a year in prison. We also work with the welfare dependent — to take them off the welfare roles and put them on the taxpayers roles," Smith continued.

The organization also assists those wanting to start their own business with a microenterprise program.

"We recently helped a widow start a jewelry design and manufacturing business," Smith said.

Goodwill's Good Guide's Program reaches out to at-risk students by matching up mentors for students.

"Today we have 106 mentors and students in our program — with the help of a U.S. Department of Justice grant," he said.

"Do you know what the difference is between Goodwill and the other top charities like Salvation Army, Red Cross and the YMCA?" Smith asked. "The other charities specialize in immediate relief for their clients. They're on the spot when disaster strikes. But Goodwill takes a long-term view of the situation. We look for long-term solutions to problems."

"We believe you can give a person a fish and feed them for one day or teach them to fish and feed them forever," Smith said.

Hard economic times have only strengthened the organization's zeal to be good stewards of their resources. It now has new recycling efforts and an online store.

"We're a major Dell computer recycler and we've entered the TV recycling business as well. Also, our books and collectables are now available at www.shopgoodwill.com," Smith said.

Finally, Smith said, what Goodwill doesn't sell doesn't go to waste. "We package what we can't sell and recycle it to third-world counties."

In other matters, the Rev. Harry Prince, Ebenezer Ministries and chaplain of the Genesee County Jail, talked about the millage to re-open the Flint jail on the May 3 ballot.

He said the current district court system is backed up to the point that the city jail would not be able to hold enough people until their arraignment. Prince said the county jail is overcrowded too.

"The facility holds 580 prisoners, but there are currently over 600 in it. If a person is arraigned and sent to the county jail then one prisoner comes in the front door and one is let go out the back door," Prince said. "From my position we need to resolve the revolving jail door issue."

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