From Drop Off to Store Shelves

Removing clutter from our homes seems to be an ongoing battle for many of us. As a society we tend to accumulate “stuff,” and that stuff often gets put into boxes and stored. Maybe it’s toddler clothes and toys your 10-year-old has no interest in, a computer monitor that’s been replaced, or sporting goods you have no use for now that all the kids are out of the house. A yard sale is a great way to help remove some of this clutter. When the sale is over and we don’t want to pack unsold items back in the house, for most of us the next stop is the local Goodwill store or donation trailer. According to Goodwill’s Director of Marketing and Fund Development Heather Alexander, more than 20 million pounds of goods are donated each year through the 13 area retail stores and 14 donation trailers covering Eastern Washington and Northern Idaho. That’s a lot of sorting, and how those items go from donation to sale to helping your community is quite the journey.

“We had 90 cars drop off donations here yesterday,” explained Coeur d’Alene Store Manager Becky Jones-Salassi. “It’s a little slower in the winter, but that’s a typical day here.”

Jones-Salassi has managed the Coeur d’Alene store on 4th Avenue for the past nine years. She oversees 29 employees, all with varying tasks to keep the donations organized and the storefront stocked. It’s the same at the Ponderay store where there is a team of 18 in place, and in Post Falls where nine people keep the smaller location going. Donations come in from either drive-up traffic or Goodwill’s donation trailers or warehouse.

“Donor service associates accept the donations and start separating the items into categories which are then taken to the back for further sorting,” said Jones-Salassi. These categories include furniture, textiles, shoes, accessories, electrical, housewares and books. “It’s fun. It’s like Christmas every 20 minutes because you never know what you’re going to get,” said Idaho stores District Manager Kara Gallegos.

Once the donations are placed into the appropriate category, they are hauled to that category’s station for pricing. A trained associate inspects the item for any damage, cleans it and assigns it a price of good, better or best, based on condition and quality of the item. “We have quality standards for what goes on the store shelves, so anything we determine does not meet those standards is sent to the Goodwill outlet store in Spokane with the goal of having zero waste,” explained Gallegos. Many of the more unique and higher-end items donated are sold online at www.shopgoodwill.com. They also have an eBay store and e-books store for online shopping.

The Coeur d’Alene sorting area is piled high with all kinds of merchandise, and if they begin running low on an item like furniture or dishes, a call is made to Goodwill’s warehouse in Spokane and new donated inventory is brought over daily. The shelves are stocked constantly throughout the day. “We have some folks who come in three times a day just to see what’s new,” said Jones-Salassi.

With literally hundreds of items coming through the door, all of the workers have seen more than a few interesting donations. Alexander remembers a wedding dress that was supposed to go in for a cleaning but ended up in the Goodwill pile. Gallegos remembers people thinking they’d dropped off a vase, but it was actually a family urn. And there was the time when Jones-Salassi went out of her way once to save a family’s memories. “We found a book of baby photos inside a stack of book donations. I started flipping through and found a JC Penney portrait studio receipt, contacted them and was able to get connected to the family and return the book. I’m guessing that husband was in the doghouse for awhile.”

As hundreds of transactions take place at the North Idaho and Eastern Washington stores, 85 cents of every dollar is going to programs that benefit many of our communities’ most vulnerable. “When you drop something off, you’re cleaning your home, but you are also giving a gift to more than 6,000 people we help every year,” said Alexander. Goodwill offers pre-employment services such as help with a resume, learning a skill, or being hired on at a Goodwill retail location for on-the-job experience. The Supportive Services for Veterans Families is a housing stability program that serves veterans who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless. Goodwill helps veterans with permanent housing, crisis intervention and connecting to their benefits. Goodwill offers numerous other services to those with disabilities.

Giving people the skills and training to better their lives is one of the most rewarding parts of any Goodwill manager. “Our North Idaho stores are hard working good people that really believe in our mission and are supporters of the community,” said Gallegos.

Removing clutter from the house and garage gives us a feeling of satisfaction and accomplishment. Know that when you drop your donations off at Goodwill, you are extending that feeling to hundreds in your community who are benefiting from Goodwill’s programs.

Goodwill Industries of the inland Northwest has:

• 13 Retail locations

• 75 years of serving people with barriers

• 511 people employed in 2014

• Goodwill Industries of the Inland Northwest served over 6000 people in 23 counties in Eastern Washington and North Idaho in 2013.

• 5,432 people received case management and intensive support services in 2013.

• In 2013, Goodwill Industries of the Inland Northwest provided 55,270 hours of paid on-the-job training and assessment for unemployed men and women.

Now that is good news!

#local #lifecommunity #goodnews