Blake Dowling: Goodwill gives a ‘hand up’

Not long after the United States military evacuated from Afghanistan in 2021, I had the chance to tour the Goodwill Industries-Big Bend headquarters.

As you know, some former Afghan citizens came to our country with just the clothes on their back and struggled mightily to get acclimated to the U.S.

Here in Tallahassee, one young man arrived in our country and found work with Goodwill. He did not speak the language, but Goodwill gave him a chance with a job at their facility, when many others would not, and that is all that people need sometimes, a second chance.

I was at another Goodwill event last year, and I watched a young woman break down in tears, thanking the Goodwill team for helping her achieve her nursing certification. She had some barriers in her life to overcome, and with Goodwill’s help, she found a new and better-paying trajectory for her life, career, and family. I got to shake her hand that day and the more mileage that my career and life odometer picks up, the more moments like these, mean everything.

Nationally, Goodwill was founded in 1902 by Rev. Edgar J. Helms. Helms started the model of collecting donated goods and getting them ready for sale in Boston.

He collected household goods, hired individuals to repair them, and then sold them or gave them to the persons who repaired them. With this model, a national philosophy was born of an organization all over the United States that gives a “hand up and not a handout.”

Goodwill has offices, stores, and learning centers all over Florida and nine organizations that oversee those hundreds of locations. While the perception of Goodwill may focus on the donation and then the sale of goods, which is an important part of its work, its overall mission and the things that it accomplishes have a much more noble theme. The Florida Goodwill Association states its mission is “the promotion of social welfare throughout the State of Florida, particularly the welfare of individuals with barriers to employment.”

Our Goodwill organization in North Florida, Goodwill Industries, Big Bend Inc. was established in 1965 in Tallahassee and has its own specific mission: “To build opportunities through education, career services, and support for individuals, helping families prosper within the Big Bend.”

Their services range from the traditional model started by Helms in 1902, which means donated items are put for sale, but that is just the beginning. The other programs they offer include job training (construction, nursing, hospitality, and others), job placement, housing placement and assistance, childcare (including children with special needs), re-entry programs, career counseling, and lots of other services.

These days, they also have computer stores, bookstores, and even car washes, which creates a vast and diverse footprint in our state.

I sat down with Fred Shelfer, CEO and president of Goodwill here in Florida, to discuss his 20-plus-year journey with the organization.

Shelfer started his career in the real estate business; in fact, the neighborhood Summerbrooke in Tallahassee was one of his projects and is named after his two daughters.

We spoke about his journey to Goodwill:

“When asked why I got involved with Goodwill, I often reply that Goodwill has allowed me to use my business experience to help individuals in our community acquire the skills to support themselves and their families. Our mission is to help individuals overcome barriers to employment.”

Please listen to our entire conversation on the Biz & Tech Podcast:

By the numbers, Goodwill assisted over two million people in growing their careers, helped over 120,000 people find a job, and gave another 25,000 a professional certificate and job training. I mentioned two stories I personally saw here in Florida, and if you want to dive into some other life-changing stories in our nation, you can check out Chelsea, Shaheera, and Kara and their quest to find success in the technology field.

This video was the combined effort of Goodwill, Google and several others:

Goodwill is more than an organization; it is a mission, and branding a mission like that is not easy. Most companies and organizations struggle with a name that fits the objectives of what the company does. Goodwill is the exception; what they do and bring to the table is in their name, and getting to know their team here in Florida has been a career highlight.

My thanks to Mr. Shelfer, Kim, Will, Tamara, Eneydi, Shannon, Rick, Marcie and everyone that serves this organization. Thank you for making your life’s work to celebrate the good and “press on till the curse of poverty and exploitation is banished from mankind.” (As Rev. Helms has said.)