A Christmas Tale: Goodwill Is Training the Jobless for Digital Careers
Gifts from MacKenzie Scott, the ex-wife of Jeff Bezos, are the biggest in the nonprofit’s 118 years
Ready for a feel-good Christmas tale? Consider Goodwill, which was founded in 1902 in Boston by the Reverend Edgar J. Helms, a Methodist minister. He collected used clothing and household goods, sold them in stores, and used the money for what he called “employment, training, and rehabilitation for people of limited employability, and a source of temporary assistance for individuals whose resources were depleted.”
That’s still pretty much the vision, except it’s now on a continental scale. Goodwill has stores in all 50 states and Canada employing about 140,000 people. It estimates that last year it helped 1.5 million people “build competencies, earn jobs and advance in their careers.”