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1 giveit2goodwill.org April - June 2011 Ambassador July - Sept. 2011 Our business is changing lives. Wham! Zap! Wow! Comic Book Collection Donated From the Bayou to Music City Career Solutions Launches Web Site

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Page 1: Ambassador Q3

1giveit2goodwill.orgApril - June 2011

AmbassadorJuly - Sept. 2011

Our business is changing lives.

Wham! Zap! Wow! Comic Book Collection Donated

From the Bayou to Music CityCareer Solutions Launches Web Site

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giveit2goodwill.orgApril - June 20112

contentsProudly supported by Microsoft.

UP_Poster_c08.indd 1 11/11/2010 4:51:53 PM

President & CEO - David LifseySr. Director of Marketing & Community Relations - Karl Houston

Writer & Editor - Suzanne Kay-PittmanArt Director & Photographer - Scott Bryant

Intern Designers - Jeremy Hatfield & Meagan MohnAdditional Photography - Dana Thomas, Jeremy Hatfield &

Cameron Murray

Ambassador is a quarterly magazine published by Goodwill Industries of Middle Tennessee, Inc.

1015 Herman St.Nashville, TN 37208

For the nearest retail store, donation center, or Career Solutions facility, please call 615.742.4151 or visit giveit2goodwill.org.

The Ambassador provides its readers with stories about the events, activities and people who support the mission of Goodwill Industries of Middle Tennessee. We are pleased to provide you this information and hope you will share our publication with others. Please note, the opinions expressed in the Ambassador do not necessarily reflect an opinion or official position of the management or employees of Goodwill Industries of Middle Tennessee, Inc.

Goodwill’s Mission: We sell donated goods to provide employment and training opportunities for people who have disabilities and others who have trouble finding and keeping jobs.

1264 1367

810

14Goodwill Gets Massive Comic Book Collection

Goodwill is Green and on TV!

Go Online for the 2010 Annual Report and Ambassador

From the Bayou to Music City

Teens BeatingSummer Boredom

Business Development & Job Fairs

12Career SolutionsA Web Site of its Own

14Microsoft Gives Goodwill the Latest Technology

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3giveit2goodwill.orgApril - June 2011

Lawrenceburg Grand OpeningWhile we didn’t grow in store numbers, we did add a store. Lawrenceburg, Tennessee, has a new Goodwill store and Donation Express Center. The grand opening for both was held Thursday, June 23 at 8:45 a.m., with members of the Lawrence County Chamber of Commerce on-hand for the ribbon cutting event. And, for the first time, Lawrenceburg has a Career Solutions Center, which opened Monday, June 20.

Through Career Solutions, Goodwill provides free employment and training opportunities to Tennesseans who are looking for jobs, want to improve their job search skills, or may face barriers to employment.

“The primary reason we relocated the Lawrenceburg store is to provide a full range of services for our shoppers, donors and clients,” says David Jenkins, Goodwill’s senior director of retail.

And what do the shoppers in Lawrenceburg think about their new shopping spot? If this note on our Facebook page is any indication, it will be a big draw for shoppers and provide them with great products and a continuing stream of revenue for our mission services.

“The store is wonderful. I have averaged spending $150 a week since the grand

opening. I have decided to redo my rooms at home because I am finding such great

things. I challenge everyone to come by at least once. But be prepared; you will be hooked.”

- Debbie

The new store, located at 1604 North Locust Avenue, in the former K-Mart building, is 20 percent larger than the original Goodwill store, with 18,000 square feet of sales space and boasts a large furniture department. The attached Donation Express Center is a covered drive-through, making it convenient for donors who bring their gently-used items to Goodwill. Store and Donation Express hours are Monday through Saturday, 9:00 a.m. until 8:00 p.m. and Sunday, 11:00 a.m. until 6:00 p.m.

Career Solutions makes its presence known, too!

• Large format color digital printing

• Signs • Banners • Vehicle graphics • Vinyl lettering &

decals

For more information:Visit: goodwillsignsolutions.comCall: 615.346.1205e-mail: [email protected]

We will help promote your business with creative and

innovative designs, signs and marketing products. As a

division of Goodwill Industries of Middle Tennessee, Inc.,

your purchases support the mission of helping people in

the community find and keep jobs.

Offering:

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giveit2goodwill.orgApril - June 20114

Who is your favorite comic book hero? Batman, Spiderman or Superman? Or maybe you enjoy Captain Universe or reading about the adventures of Cat Woman. No matter who’s your hero, or what genre of comic book you fancy, Goodwill probably has it for sale on onlinegoodwill.com thanks to a very generous donor who wishes to remain anonymous. Let’s just say he’s Super Donor!

It took the special projects team several hours to load a box truck to haul the carefully preserved and catalogued collection of 12,626 comic books from the home of the donor who lives in Murfreesboro, TN. Some of the comic books date back to the early 1960s and are originally priced for as little as 10¢. In today’s dollars the donation is valued at more than $42,000.

Why give up his prized collection? “My wife has been very supportive of my hobby, but it was time to let most of the comic books go because I haven’t had as much time to enjoy them as I have in the past.”

The donor says he has been collecting comic books since he was very young and that this particular collection had come together in the last 30 years. And where do you store 12,626 comic books? The donor said they were in a closet and stacked along the wall of his office.

Deciding which agency would receive the donation was easy, says the donor. He said he chose Goodwill because of our company’s television commercials and the positive impact donations have on Goodwill’s clients and employees. “I realized how involved Goodwill is within the area’s large and small communities, and I hope the sale of the comic books helps the company continue its good work.”

All 12,656 comic books are being sold through Goodwill’s auction site, onlinegoodwill.com. Some of the comic books are being sold individually, while others are being sold in lots and grouped based on the character and storyline. It’s estimated it could take until October before all the comic books are listed and sold on onlinegoodwill.com.

Three of Nashville’s four television stations aired stories about the donation, and The Tennessean newspaper also ran a story. The story was then syndicated to CNN, many other affiliate television stations in the U.S. and Canada, and ran in newspapers throughout the U.S. With that much publicity, interest continues to run high on the comic books as they’re posted for sale on onlinegoodwill.com.

Wham! Zap! WOW! Goodwill Gets Massive CoMiC Book ColleCtion

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Wham! Zap! WOW!

YOU NEVER KNOW WHAT ELSE YOU’LL FIND ON ONLINEGOODWILL.COM Just one week after the comic book donation made the news, the e-Commerce team found itself again the center of media attention for two unusual items:

An 1827 J. Stackhouse detailed scrimshaw animal horn, with intricate carvings of horses, an eagle soaring over a sailing ship with stalks of wheat and the term,

E Pluribus Unim, sold for $955 on onlinegoodwill.com. It was donated at the

Rivergate store and sold to a buyer in Ft. Lauderdale, FL.

And for Aerosmith fans, the chance to own a Steven Tyler autographed guitar was as simple as coming up with the highest bid. The guitar sold on eBay to a buyer from Adairville, KY for $417.49.

To date, the highest price paid for a single comic book: $161 for the Amazing Spiderman, Vulture’s Prey #64, published by Marvel Comics Group in 1968.

The largest sale to an individual was $1,467 to a buyer in Tennessee and included:

$301. – 24 issues of Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man $ 34. – 30 issues of Iron Man, circa, 1990s$711. – 29 issues of Amazing Spider-Man, circa 1970s$421. – 19 issues of Peter Parker Spider-Man, circa 1970s$1,467 Total (not including tax, shipping and handling)

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Interested in how 2010 played out for Goodwill Industries of Middle Tennessee, Inc.? The information is readily available in the 2010 Annual Report, a compilation of the company’s performance as it strives to meet its stated mission, We sell donated goods to provide employment and training opportunities for

people who have disabilities and others who have trouble finding and keeping jobs.

The 2010 Annual Report outlines the company’s financial statement, including liabilities and net assets, operating funds, and a summary statement of revenue and expenses. Also included is information outlining the clients served by our career counselors at the Career Solutions Centers located throughout the 46 counties served by our Goodwill.

Both the 2010 Annual Report and Ambassador are available via the Internet by visiting www.giveit2goodwill.org/about/publications.

If you’d like a hard copy of the 2010 Annual Report, please e-mail [email protected], and one will be sent to you.

CHANGING LIVES2010 ANNUAL REPORT

GOODWILL INDUSTRIES OF MIDDLE TENNESSEE, INC.

GOODWILL 22185 2010 AR - P.indd 1

7/8/11 3:13 PM

The next time you’re surfing the ‘net and wondering which site might be of interest, stop by our YouTube page. As they say in the corporate world, it’s robust! Not only will you see the latest news coverage of our Goodwill, you’ll also be able to watch success stories, see the graduates of our annual youth program explain how they spent their summer vacation, and watch the latest batch of our award-winning commercials.

Visit www.youtube.com/giveit2goodwill. If you like what you see, let us know on our Facebook page, www.facebook.com/giveit2goodwill or tweet your approval at www.twitter.com/giveit2goodwill.

Watch What’s Happening at Goodwill

2010 ANNUAL REPORT

2010 RESULTS • Over 11,000 people served in Mission Services • 9,895 helped with Job Readiness Training • Work Skills Training helped 1,633 participants • 9,895 helped with Job Placement

REVENUESales of goods contributed by the community $49,399,294Fees and grants for professional rehabilitation $334,402Contract work done for local businesses $1,650United Way support and other contributions $156,489 Investment income $130,082Miscellaneous $108,940

TOTAL $50,282,258

EXPENSESWages, Mission Related $38,056,339 Wages, Other $3,445,393 Payroll Taxes and Benefits $488 Total Payroll $4,980,812 Supplies $899,135Occupancy $7,104,271 Advertising $1,052,280 Other $3,898,387 Depreciation $1,899,484

TOTAL $46,483,032

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From the Bayou to music city

There’s no mistaking that Rusty Pregeant is from Louisiana. His accent gives it away as he tells stories about growing up near the bayou and Mississippi River.

Pregeant spent much of his adult life working the towboats that push the barges along the Mississippi. And being strung out on drugs. “It was what we did on the boats,” he says with a bit of regret in his voice. “I started using drugs when I was 15.”

“I tried several times to quit but I couldn’t kick the habit. It cost me family relationships, I went to prison twice for selling drugs and I had hit rock bottom by 2008.” Pregeant was 48. “My life was in shambles. I didn’t take care of myself. Drugs had overcome my life.”

“My family had been trying to help me for years. My brother sent me money for a bus ticket so I could get away from my hometown and the negative influences. I slept under a bridge that night and got high and caught the bus the next morning.” He says it was one of the last times he got high.

Pregeant went to Houston without a plan. Just one day after arriving, as he was walking the streets of Houston, a church van stopped and asked if he needed help. He calls it divine intervention. “I prayed for help. I lived at a halfway house in Houston for four months and quit my drug habit; I quit drinking and smoking cigarettes, too. Without going into a rehab facility. I was able to do it with the help of everyone at the church and a great deal of spirituality. I knew I wasn’t doing it alone.”

Clean and sober, Pregeant returned to Louisiana four months later but was still drifting. And that’s when he took to the Internet and found information about the Nashville Rescue Mission’s Life Recovery Program. After seven months in the program, Pregeant graduated in November 2009. “I didn’t feel like an addict anymore.”

With his new found sobriety, Pregeant came to Goodwill for the next step in his recovery. A job. “I went to the Berry Road Career Solutions

Center and the counselor, Idalba Tabares, told me about an opening in the Nashville processing plant.”

His first assignment at Goodwill was separating donated clothing. Having once worked as a forklift operator, Pregeant transitioned into Goodwill’s forklift training program where he became licensed. Today he maneuvers the forklift in the hard goods processing plant in the Story building in Nashville.

“I knew Goodwill was a place where people could get a fresh start. I was hopeless, without self-esteem. I was an angry and bitter man. Now I put others ahead of myself and treat them with love and respect. I do have a job.”

He’s also juggling a very full life. Not only does Pregeant work 40 hours a week at Goodwill, he also spends 20 hours a week as a counselor at the Rescue Mission. “I

work with drug addicts. I understand them. You don’t know how hard it is when you’re all the way down. Now I feel like I’m

a friend of the friendless.”

Pregeant’s new-found sobriety has helped him reunite with his 29-year-old son from a previous marriage and his four-year-old granddaughter. He’s also reconciled with the rest of his family and enjoying his three-month-old daughter, Isabelle and his wife. “I feel great. It’s the first time in my life that I’ve had peace.”

Finding a job, finding peace

“I knew Goodwill was a place where people could

get a fresh start.”

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giveit2goodwill.orgApril - June 20118

a teen

Summer Youth Program helps teens see their potential

It’s unusual for a 16-year-old boy to extend his hand for a handshake and look you in the eye when he meets you for the first time. That’s just one of the skills that Courtez James, a rising tenth grader at

Nashville’s Hillwood High School, has mastered this summer.

He’s one of 11 teens taking part in the Summer Youth Program offered each year by Goodwill. Courtez is a natural athlete, a natural leader, and now, a graduate of a comprehensive program that teaches teens what to expect when they graduate from high school, and hopefully, college.

“My goal is to go to Vanderbilt to play football or basketball,” says this very confident young man who is a three-sport standout in school with track as his other favorite sport. “I’m at Goodwill every day until 3:00 p.m. Then I head home, take a short nap and head over to school for football practice. I love every moment of it.”

The leader of Courtez’s four-week session, Career Solutions trainer, Tom Lee, says Courtez has been a stand-out from the first day of class. “When the kids

first came together Courtez made an effort to let me know he was paying attention and seemed to soak in the information.”

Through the Summer Youth Program, Courtez says, “I’m learning about what it takes to fill out college applications. It’s also helped me build my self-confidence for when I have to go in for a job interview and what employers are looking for.”

Not lacking self-confidence, Courtez describes himself as a smart, talented and confident person who’s not afraid to face the world. All said without being cocky. He admits that through the summer program he’s also faced some of his weaknesses. “I am working on making eye contact and I’m learning to be more comfortable with the skills I didn’t know I already had. I’m prepared.”

College may still be three years off, but Courtez is determined to get his education. If he doesn’t apply to Vanderbilt, he says he’s also interested in Columbia, USC-Berkley, and the University of Illinois so he can get his degree and follow his dream of becoming a physical therapist for athletes.

As he headed back to his summer class team, Courtez said with a big grin, “I know what it’s going to take to be successful. And this class is teaching me what I need to make it.”

planwith a

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plan

WHAT DID YOU DO ON YOUR SUMMER VACATION?Goodwill gave teens a lot of ways to answer that question!

It’s that familiar whine you hear from your kids about two weeks into summer. “I’m bored.” The parents of our Summer Youth program participants probably heard something more along the line of, “I need a nap. It was busy at Goodwill today.”

Each summer our Goodwill offers two four-week classes for teens ages 14-18 to prepare them for work in the retail and hospitality industries. The Training for Retail Associate Certification, or TRAC program. TRAC also includes a unit focusing on how to handle and manage money.

So what did they do on their summer vacation? They visited businesses throughout Nashville where they met with executives and, perhaps, future employers, they had business leaders stop by to talk about working in various industries and they got hands-on training in basic health care through Goodwill’s Health Care Initiatives program.

Oh, and they had an American icon and former American Idol finalist stop by to urge them to never give up on their dreams. Melinda Doolittle took part in the Summer Youth program for the second consecutive year, encouraging the teens to follow their dreams and stay focused.

“It’s not about what you say, it’s about how you say it.” - Trouser

“I learned how to dress for success, fill out applications, and how to follow up.” - Muna Muday

“It has taught me how to perform in interviews.” - Garrick Tisdale American Idol Finalist, Melinda Doolittle,

tells teens never give up on their dreams.

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Career Solutions has ready-to-work candidates for your company.

Every time one of our clients or trainees is hired either within Goodwill, or by one of our employer partners, it’s a success. After all, that’s what why we’re in business. So when Call Center trainee Luis Santos-Stanley was hired in June as a bilingual customer service representative for Central Parking Systems in Nashville, it was cause for celebration. It’s the type of celebration that Alan McMillen, Goodwill’s director of business development and a new hire in a new position within the company, hopes will play out even more often.

“My job at the moment is to educate the Nashville-area business community about the many programs and offerings at Goodwill. And to hammer home the point

that the revenue we receive through retail is used to fund our growing list of training opportunities for our clients. It’s a story many of the folks I’m meeting haven’t heard before,” said McMillen.

There are several prongs to McMillen’s job. First, he’s introducing Goodwill’s Career Solutions Centers, our counselors and our services, to key businesses sectors throughout the area. He’s not

only meeting with various business leaders, he’s also hosting focus groups who visit the Herman Street corporate complex in Nashville. “I want buy-in from companies whose businesses mirror our services. For instance, our Health Care Initiatives course produces graduates who are work-ready for entry level positions. Not only do I want these companies to hire our graduates, I want them to guide us and mentor our trainers so our graduates meet ever-expanding industry standards.”

HAVE A JOB OPENING? NEED A SOURCE FOR QUALIFIED CANDIDATES?

What can Goodwill do for your business? “I can’t think of a better resource for future employees,” said Alan McMillen, Director of Business Development.

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One of McMillen’s goals is to create a business advisory board and partner with industry leaders. “The key areas I’m interested in growing are green technology jobs, and the home health care service sector so we can help our clients and help the community play a part in providing jobs. Building one-on-one relationships with employers means our counselors will have more access to job postings. It’s good for our clients.”

Even in the few short months McMillen has been with Goodwill he has seen new partnerships bloom. Service Management Systems (SMS), a full service Commercial Cleaning and Maintenance Company, located in Nashville, TN., now looks at Goodwill’s Custodial Training graduates as first-tier candidates. Our clients are being hired by SMS Cleaning, and Incredible Dave’s, a game-themed restaurant, is opening a franchise in the Rivergate area and has already hired one employee through Career Solutions. More hires are anticipated as the restaurant nears its opening.

So what can Goodwill do for your business? “I can’t think of a better resource for future employees,” said McMillen. Career Solutions offers access to a large pool of applicants, all of whom have been through job readiness training classes and are ready for the workforce. And Career Solutions doesn’t charge for working with our counselors to find the right candidate for your slots.

“Goodwill provides this breadth of services to civic organizations and businesses. If you give our clients a chance in the workplace, that will be my ‘aha’ moment!”

Want to find out how Goodwill can help your business? Call Alan McMillen, director of business development, at 615-346-1647 or e-mail him at [email protected]. To find out about Goodwill’s Career Solutions programs and services, visit www.goodwillcareersolutions.org.

Job FairsBringing jobs and employers directly to Goodwill’s clients is a key goal for our career counselors. Several Career Solutions Centers have hosted job fairs with results that exceeded all expectations.

Clarksville and Springfield career counselors Michael Thombs and A.J. Helms teamed for a June job fair. More than 400 guests met with potential employers including Aid and Assist, AT&T, Staff Partners, Sam’s Club, Kelly Services, Sport Clips, American Home Design, Hendrickson, Montgomery County School System, and Allied Barton, a security firm. Thombs said he received numerous phone calls from the employers asking for references on many of the candidates they met.

After the job fair, Thombs met with the regional manager of H&R Block who plans to hire 50 customer service representatives, tax preparers and leads and wants to send applicants through Goodwill’s Training for Retail Associate Certification program and the three-day computer course. Thombs said the H&R Block manager told him those candidates will, “go to the front of the must-interview stack.”

In Union City, counselor Jacklyn McKinney hosted a job fair on June 22 with more than 125 clients and new faces who met with potential employers. McKinney has heard from several clients who told her they were hired by the employers at the event.

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Want to find out about the latest programs offered by Career Solutions, or how to search for a new job at Goodwill? While some of that information is now available on our Goodwill’s Web site, giveit2goodwill.org, you’ll soon have a new site on the Web filled with information about all that Career Solutions has to offer.

The new site, goodwillcareersolutions.com, launched in early June. The site has information specific to each of our 17 Career Solutions Centers and the job training programs offered at each. There will also be updates as new programs are added, and the list continues to grow. Our Career Solutions offers everything from custodial training to computer training, forklift certification and GED classes.

With the Web as a primary source of information for job leads, the new site gives clients, trainers and counselors a chance to interact through My Career Connection, a concept similar to Facebook. There are discussion areas for topics related to job placement and training services, including training videos.

CAREER SOLUTIONS - A WEB SITE OF ITS OWN

For those clients without a computer at home, My Career Connection provides a personal profile space where the client can save their resume for online job applications. Not only is it a great online connection, it also helps clients hone their computer and social media skills.

A Community Events Calendar on the site gives clients easy access to the latest information about job search and placement events in Middle and West Tennessee.

And, you’ll notice that Career Solutions also has its own logo to help clients, business and community partners, and our shoppers and donors know how our Goodwill is helping its clients change their lives.

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PBS show highlights Goodwill and giving.

Kids are quick learners. They know it’s important to recycle glass, plastic and cans. Now it’s easy to teach your children how to be a link in the chain of going green by donating their gently-used items. It’s all part of

the Donate Movement.

The classroom isn’t the only place for kids to learn. Think of Goodwill as the store where you can teach your kids valuable life lessons.

• Save money - shop at Goodwill. That’s a lesson that will pay big dividends when your children are balancing their own checkbooks and looking for ways to stretch their dollars and still look trendy.

• What you spend in a Goodwill store is revenue that will be used to help neighbors in the communities we serve to receive free job training and placement services. That lesson pays dividends for the Tennesseans who are able to find work, support themselves and their families, and become an integral part of their community.

• Save the planet – Goodwill kept two billion pounds of textiles and other products out of landfills in 2010.

Goodwill just might have been the first recycler. When the company was founded in 1902 the concept was based on taking what people no longer needed or wanted, donating those items, and giving others the chance to buy those items and repurpose them. It’s a story that can be seen on PBS Kids.

“Curiosity Quest”What happens to clothes and other items when they’re donated to Goodwill? The PBS Kids show, “Curiosity Quest,” took the show on the road to a California Goodwill to explain the process of how donations are used to support Goodwill programs and services. In the episode, and as part of the show’s Goes Green series, host Joel Greene highlights the positive impact donations have on communities and Mother Earth.

The Goodwill segment of the Goes Green series of “Curiosity Quest” will air on Nashville’s PBS station, NPT2, on Sunday, August 27 at 9:00 a.m. You can find NPT2 over-the-air on channel 8.2 or on Comcast on channel 241. It will re-air in the fall. If you live in Cookeville, WCTE will air the show Sunday, August 21, at 10:30 a.m. on Charter Cable channel 10, and channel 22 on Dish and Direct networks.

Parents and teachers who want to share this information-packed episode of “Curiosity Quest” with your children and students, and learn how you can organize a donation drive to build supporters for a life-long journey of being good stewards for the planet, you may purchase the DVD. Copies are available

at the discounted price of $14.95 by contacting Wendy Bailey at 240.333.5550 or [email protected], or Lauren Lawson-Zilai at 240.333.5266 or [email protected].

For more information about “Curiosity Quest,” please visit www.curiosityquest.org.

DRESS YOUR BEST FOR SCHOOLSchool’s back in session. Have you bought your kids their uniforms or other trendy clothes yet? Don’t forget that Goodwill has the hottest styles and the khakis they’ll need. Why do we have those items? Donors. That’s why! Without the generosity of the donors who clean out their closets and clear the clutter, Goodwill would not be able to offer generous savings on new-to-you clothes. Why pay full price at big box stores for clothes they will soon outgrow when you can pay a fraction of the original retail price? Plus, and this is a big bonus, you won’t pay sales tax on previously owned clothes.

GOODWILL IS GREEN AND ON TV!

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When Microsoft Corporation chooses an organization for a grant, it’s a long-term relationship. Earlier this year Microsoft awarded our Goodwill a $236,000 grant through its Microsoft Elevate America initiatives. The grant money has been used to hire five new digital literacy trainers who travel to each of our 17 Career Solutions Centers to work hands-on with clients who aren’t yet comfortable with technology.

Microsoft Corporation doesn’t just cut a check and move on, though. Instead, the software giant continues to monitor not only how we’re spending the money, but how effectively our Goodwill is using that money. In the grant application we stated the funding would be used to help clients learn comprehensive job search skills and there would be a focus on

the underserved rural communities that may lack digital literacy or access to technology. Without those now fundamental skills, people in the job market don’t have the opportunity to research jobs online and apply for them via the Internet.

Since coming onboard with Goodwill in the second quarter of 2011, the five trainers have worked with 2,485 clients. The grant is being managed by Senior Director of Career Solutions, Matt Gloster.

Microsoft Corporation is giving our Goodwill $2 million in state-of-the-art software.

GIVES GOODWILL THE LATEST TECHNOLOGY

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All the training would be fruitless without the most current operating systems. As an outcropping of the grant, Microsoft Corporation is also giving our Goodwill $2 million in state-of-the-art software. “The goal is to ensure our Goodwill is operating on the most modern business platforms Microsoft offers including servers and desktop software,” said Ed O’Kelley, Senior Director of Information Technology.

The end result is to help Goodwill build stronger communities through digital literacy. In simple terms, to give every client who wants to learn how to use a computer and gain marketable skills, the means to do so.

The very inclusive software from Microsoft will be used to install individual servers in each of our retail sites. By

doing so, the point-of-sale system will be stable, there will be faster response time for each transaction at the register, which means greater customer satisfaction. O’Kelley notes, “Desktops throughout the company will soon be operating on the same platform, Windows 2010, rather than the three systems currently

deployed. And the company’s use of two servers to manage the corporation’s daily business will be reduced to one which will make Goodwill’s information more secure and provide easier disaster recovery.”

An additional part of the Microsoft package will help our Goodwill upgrade its intranet, known within the company as, Fast Track. It’s a busy site with training videos, it’s where store managers manage requests for inventory fulfillment, and other departments have posted information and documents for all employees.

And perhaps the most important aspect of the software donation is that the thousands of clients who come to our Goodwill’s Career Solutions Centers for computer training can use the latest technology. In return we’re helping to build stronger job candidates.

O’Kelley expects delivery of the new software to begin in late August and to have all segments of the upgrades completed by the end of 2011.

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Non-Profit Org.U.S. Postage

PAIDNashville, TN

Permit No. 2009

Goodwill Industries of Middle Tennessee, Inc. | 1015 Herman St. | Nashville | TN | 37208

ReadAmbassador

OnlineGoodwill encourages our donors and supporters to think green. If you’d prefer to read Ambassador online, rather than receive it in the mail, please let us know by signing up on our Web site: giveit2goodwill.org/about/publications

Goodwill does not share or sell e-mail addresses with any company and you will not receive solicitations or spam from Goodwill.