Walmart, and Wells Fargo. Together, these companies have contributed $800,000 toward job training resources.

Six hundred low-income people in the Tacoma area are receiving job training and career education from Goodwill’s WorkFirst program. The effort is possible due to a $1.8 million contract from the State Department of Commerce and partnerships with the Tacoma Community House, Washington Women’s Employment and Education and Pierce Community Connections. WorkFirst has services to give participants job training, their first work experience, job-search assistance and up to 6 months of intensive case management to transition people into employment.

GWOODWILL

ORKS

A Report to the Community

Winter 2015

NEW CORPORATE ALLIANCE PROGRAM

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Donation truck chorus line performs for local media!

Sandra Collins, Kent Outlet Retail Assistant Manager and WorkFirst graduate.

Raymond Powell: WorkFirst Program participant.

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE FUNDING Helps Fuel Goodwill’s WorkFirst Program

At a small but important gathering at our Tacoma Operations Center, a chorus line of custom-painted Goodwill donation trucks put on quite a show for a host of our corporate partners! In honor of 14 local businesses and organizations that are the inaugural partners in Goodwill’s new Corporate Alliance Program, the back doors of big donation trucks dropped in a wave, revealing new messaging to show joint support for the disadvantaged in our region. Now, mobile billboards in our fleet celebrate the partnership local companies have with us in support of youth, families, and veterans. The Corporate Alliance Program includes Bank of America, Boeing, Chase, Chuckals Office Products, Columbia Bank, Fred Meyer, Home Depot, Key Bank, Lowes, Starbucks, The Tacoma News Tribune, Verizon,

GOODWILLOF THE OLYMPICS & RAINIER REGION

Washington. The grant also allows Goodwill to offer computer lab support to 8,900 youth and adult job seekers. The support allowed Goodwill to obtain six key business software products to improve operations

and business analytics. Microsoft software will be used in Goodwill ’s work opportunity centers, rural education offices, and at their recycling, retail, and commercial services. Microsoft’s grant funds necessary computer upgrades, freeing up more Goodwill resources for job training and education services.

This year, more than 8,500 service members will transition out of the military through Joint Base Lewis McCord. Many of these veterans and their families will choose to live in the Puget Sound area, and finding jobs, homes and futures will be made easier through Operation: GoodJobs, a veteran’s career transition program run by Goodwill.

Operation: GoodJobs offers each enrollee a complete career assessment and individual development plan, job training and interview coaching. In addition, Goodwill works with businesses to match potential employees with employers.

Boeing is one of the employers who stand out in their close relationship with Operation: Goodjobs by providing additional mentoring, informational meetings and direct access opportunities for employment.

GREATER SUPPORT FOR VETERAN SERVICES

MICROSOFT GRANT ALLOWS FOR MORE JOB TRAINING AND EDUCATION

Goodwill Veterans Services Coordinator Jennifer Wright networks with transitioning soldiers at a Veterans Networking Event.

640 TO RECEIVE FREE TAX PREPARATION

Free tax assistance and electronic filing will be available at Goodwill January 27 - April 15 for singles and households making less than $53,000/year. Approximately 66,445 households in Pierce County would qualify.

An estimated 640 families will receive professional tax services this year at the Milgard Work Opportunity Center, thanks to a partnership with Key Bank, the IRS VITA Program (Volunteer Income Tax Assistance), and the Pierce County Asset Building Coalition.

Professional filing helps more persons to take advantage of tax credits for which they may qualify such as the Earned Income Tax Credit, Child Tax Credit and Credit for the Elderly or the Disabled.

In the U.S. last year, more than $1 billion in Earned Income Tax Credits were unclaimed by singles and families with children.

Thanks to a generous $51,863 grant from Microsoft, Goodwill of the Olympics and Rainier Region is able to offer job training and education to additional unemployed people in 15 counties across Western

Volunteer James Koo (on left) prepares the taxes of Maria and Martin Newstrand of Tacoma, during the annual KeyBank Super Refund Saturday, hosted by the Goodwill Milgard Work Opportunity Center in Tacoma.

Michael Secright, Goodwill’s Information Technology Director, oversees installation of Microsoft’s SQLSvr Business Intelligence software.

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Now, when the need for this successful service is at an all-time high, Boeing has shown its ongoing commitment by providing a $75,000 grant. A powerful statement of belief in the program and in the men and women who have served our country.

Wells Fargo renewed their support by contributing $75,000 to help veterans and their families transition to the civilian marketplace and find satisfying employment. Among those finding employment, a spouse of a veteran who after enrolling in the program, was quickly identified as someone who would excel in the banking industry. Because of Goodwill’s relationship with Wells Fargo, she landed an interview and was offered a position. Thanks to the support of Wells Fargo, Boeing and others, Operation: Goodjobs has helped more than 1,400 veterans and family members become employed. (Operation: GoodJobs, with founding support of the Walmart Foundation, provides a variety of services to empower military veterans with the tools they need to find employment, succeed in the workplace and permanently support their families).

Shop. Donate. Celebrate.Goodwill’s Pop-up Christmas Shoppes opened this year to lines of customers waiting to get in! The shops in Spanaway, North Tacoma, South Lacey, Bonney Lake and Sequim offer a unique holiday shopping

CONGRESSMAN DEREK KILMER VISITS GOODWILL

Goodwill Contracting Services Board President Pat Steele’s Heroes for Hometown Veterans Organization assisted Rep. Derek Kilmer (right) during a veterans fact finding tour in October.

There’s no telling how a great cup of coffee can change someone’s day. Or in the case of Victoria Sarabia, change someone’s life. As she expertly swirls foam into a steaming latte at the Buzz at Goodwill, there’s no hint of anything but confidence, happiness and unquestionable barista skills. But as recently as a year ago, Victoria was struggling with a self admitted need for direction. “I decided to find something short-term that I could do while figuring out my life,” she recalled. While visiting the Department of Vocational Rehabilitation, she gathered up a number of brochures introducing various training programs sponsored by Goodwill. She was immediately attracted to the Youth Barista Training Program and was thrilled to learn scholarships were available. She enrolled and excelled in the 16 week program, and was hired in December for a position at the Buzz. “My self esteem went from rock bottom to higher and higher. I have something to look forward to everyday with people I enjoy. This program has opened so many doors and helped me realize there are so many opportunities, you just need to take them!”

GREAT CUP OF COFFEE CHANGES VICTORIA SARABIA’S LIFE

Victoria Sarabia

experience carrying everything from home décor, ornaments, holiday dish sets and service ware. We save up all year to bring customers the best of what Goodwill has to offer for the holidays!

POP-UP CHRISTMAS SHOPPES NOW OPEN

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Corporate Office 714 S 27th St • Tacoma, WA 98409 253.573.6500 • goodwillwa.org

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Time and again, I am humbled by the many community partners that support our mission of helping people with barriers to employment go to work. In this newsletter, we honor companies like Microsoft who help

upgrade our backend computer networks – to Boeing and Wells Fargo, who support our transitioning soldier job training and employment efforts – to long time partner Key Bank who has worked with us for years to provide free financial literacy and tax filing services. All of our donors and partners – those that provide the goods that we sell in our stores and those that contribute financially – are critical to our success.

Together we provide crucial job training, job experience and placement to the unemployed in our 15 counties. With the strength of our partners, we have set high goals for 2015: serving 9,500 people; placing 2,800 in jobs; and opening a new recycling and retail outlet center in Olympia. Our promise is to continue to give people hope, confidence, skills and a plan for a better future here in our community. Because jobs – and partnerships - really do change lives! Terry Hayes

President & CEO

A MESSAGE FROM THE CEO

Goodwill Board Officers ChairDon Johnson

TreasurerC.W. Herchold

SecretaryFrank Scoggins

At LargePamela Transue, PhDSkip Haynes

Directors Robert BrubackAnthony Chen, MDBill DickensBuzz Folsom

Cheryl JonesJemima McCullumRyan PettyShahrokh Saudagaran Karen SeinfeldJudy SwainJane TaylorTimothy Truebenbach

Scott Waner Chad WrightEd Zittel

Foundation BoardOfficers ChairJim Loomis

Vice ChairGreg Biersack

TreasurerBarbara Mitchell Briner

SecretaryDennis Fulton

Board MembersSteve BargerBill Dickens Buzz Folsom

Chuck Hellar Jason Hall Bev LoseyWillie Stewart Timothy Truebenbach Jim Walton

Search online at shopgoodwill.com. Thousands of items posted daily.

GOODWILL ONLINE STORE

Didn’t find the art you were looking for?

scan for current art auction listings

Trim -a-

Tree

Home Décor Outdoor Gifts

ApparelToys

Goodwill’s Pop-up Christmas Shoppes

NOW OPEN!

Everything you need for the holidays

Visit Goodwill’s Christmas Shoppes next to these locations:

North Tacoma (6th Ave) • Bonney Lake • Spanaway South Lacey • Sequim

goodwillwa.org

YOUR SUPPORT MAKES ALL THE DIFFERENCE.

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ROUND UP! Your change changes lives!

As they say, “a little goes a long way”. Our Round Up program takes that phrase to a whole new level. Over the last year 662,451 shoppers at Goodwill stores donated their extra change to raise more than $318,000 by Rounding Up! When customers

Round Up their purchase to the nearest dollar, that extra change is donated to The Goodwill Heritage Foundation, where it is used to support the programs and services offered at Goodwill.

More people than ever before are coming to Goodwill seeking the training and education they need to find meaningful employment. Since no one pays for their courses at Goodwill, we must rise to the occasion and secure the funding needed to help people change their lives. Our generous customers, who already provide support by donating goods and shopping at stores, were instrumental in providing the chance for 9,602 people to change their lives.

We would like to say a big THANK YOU to our customers for Rounding Up! You make a tremendous difference in the lives of many from returning Veterans to young adults. You give them the chance to change.

It had rained all day over the beautiful grounds of Lakewold Gardens. But as DreamMakers scholarship donors gathered inside the Wagoner House, the rain stopped, the clouds parted and the sun peaked out just as the formal DreamMaker Celebration program began. There, under the wisteria, DreamMakers and the scholarship recipients who benefitted from their gifts shared inspiring stories of success, generosity and appreciation.

Goodwill honored Willie Stewart as 2014 DreamMaker of the Year. A Goodwill Heritage Foundation Board Member, educator, community advocate and longtime friend of Goodwill, Willie embodies the generous spirit of our DreamMakers.

Willie introduced the audience to Camille Thompson, a young DreamMaker scholarship recipient who shared her powerful story of struggle and her search for hope and opportunity. “Camille is a perfect example of why the DreamMakers scholarship program exists. She was looking to escape a difficult past and Goodwill offered her that escape”, said Willie.

Goodwill’s DreamMakers offer youth, adults and seniors with barriers to employment an opportunity for a brighter future through scholarship funding. Every year, Goodwill DreamMakers donors provide the chance to change to hundreds of people just like Camille who seek the opportunity for a fresh start.

If you no longer wish to receive our newsletter please contact Ashley Taulbee at 253.573.6655.

DreamMakers Celebration 2014

GOODWILLHeritage Foundation

NEWS FROM THE FOUNDATION

WINTER 2015

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FOOD FOR YOUTH

Tax Statement

Be on the look out! For your tax purposes, we will be sending 2014 tax receipt letters to our donors of over $100. If you have questions in the meantime, please feel free to contact Ashley Taulbee at 253.573.6655.

Kendra Blattenberg Sous chef at the Neighborhood Bistro.

“I enjoy watching these kids flourish. They are so grateful to get a good lunch.”

The Goodwill Heritage Foundation provides scholarships and mission funding to help those in your community receive the es-sential job training and placement services needed to get a job.

BECAUSE JOBS CHANGE LIVES.

714 27th Street • Tacoma, WA 98409 253.573.6655 • goodwillwa.org

Every year since opening the Milgard Work Opportunity and REACH Center in 2009, we have seen more and more at-risk youth come through our doors looking for help. These kids face endless obstacles to education and employment— from being homeless and not knowing when their next meal will be, to facing teen pregnancy and dropping out of high school.

What makes these young adults so impressive is that despite all they face, they have chosen to change the trajectory of their lives by coming to Goodwill for mentorship, GED classes or specific job training programs. A very simple yet basic hurdle for these young adults is getting consistent meals. It is hard to concentrate on changing your life when you are hungry.

Thanks to individual donors like you, gifts from the Dimmer Family Foundation and Puyallup Tribe as well as support from the Tacoma School District, Goodwill’s Food for Youth Program was able to

provide 4,279 nutritious breakfasts and lunches to enrolled program students over the last year. Since implementing this program, we have seen attendance and course-completion rates rise significantly. Instructors have remarked on the increased energy and positive attitude in their classrooms.

Thank you for your support! For more information on how you can help, please contact Diana Small at dianas@goodwillwa.org or 253.573.6754.

Financial Contributions to Goodwill...

• Provide Scholarship funding directly to individuals looking to develop employable skills.

• Support mission and program needs so Goodwill can serve more people.

• Provide capital support for the equipment and facilities needed to carry out the mission.

• Build endowments that enable Goodwill to offer mission services to future generations in need of job training skills.