Year of Local
Laura Greaves
This is the ninth in a series of submitted stories produced by the Year of Local, a collaborative project highlighting businesses and not-for-profit organizations in Sarnia.
Goodwill began nearly 85 years ago as the Family Services Guild, which provided food hampers to needy families.
In 1939 it opened “The Goodwill” on Victoria Street, a retail location and sewing room where volunteers repaired clothing and used goods to raise funds for their programs.
In 1959 Goodwill’s mission shifted, refocusing its efforts away from food hampers and to employment for the disabled. In 1975, executive director John Gifford opened the Sheltered Workshop, which provided a work program for people facing barriers to employment.
In 2002, Goodwill Sarnia became Goodwill Essex Kent Lambton (EKL), expanding its services to help anyone and everyone in the community find employment, not just those facing barriers.
When Kevin Smith was hired as executive director in 2000, he brought many new ideas but he also wanted to honour those who came before him.
“I remember people referring to John Gifford as Mr. Goodwill. He was extremely passionate about Goodwill and I wanted to preserve that legacy,” said Smith.
The most rewarding part for him has been watching the organization grow and change. When he first joined Goodwill, one of the big challenges was improving the brand image.
“I travelled to a number of other Goodwill centres to see the great things that they were doing. I brought some of these ideas back and we solved our problems,” Smith said.
He believes strongly that you have to make changes in order to improve.
“You have to empower many people, take some risks, fail and make some mistakes. It’s all a part of learning to become a better leader.”
Goodwill offers substantial job training. “The training makes us more efficient but it also makes Goodwill a fun place to work. Our social enterprise and organization is strong and continues to grow, now employing 250 individuals and still hiring,” Smith said.
Recent events outside of Goodwill EKL have presented a new challenge. In early 2016, Goodwill Toronto declared bankruptcy. Smith was surprised by the Toronto closures, and worried about how the news would affect his own operations.
“Each Goodwill is autonomous, is governed by a local board of directors and operates independently. We didn’t want our donors, customers or our funders to think we weren’t in a strong position,” says Smith.
Goodwill EKL remains financially healthy, he said.
“These are the challenges outside of our control that we have to face … For us, it’s business as usual. We continue to fulfill our mission: when you donate, someone works. It’s really that simple.”
He is proud to say that in 2015 Goodwill placed 1,656 people into jobs. By helping people find employment, Goodwill also helps build their self-esteem and confidence and improves family life.
“When someone donates money, product, service or promotion we can ensure that someone will be working because of that,” he said. For a full list of locations and services, visit www.goodwillekl.com.
For more community stories, visit www.yearoflocal.com.