Shoppers who have been cooped at home will be able to get out and treasure hunt at their local Goodwill stores starting Friday, May 1. With the Governor encouraging businesses to begin the process of reopening, 13 stores within Goodwill of Middle Georgia and the CSRA will open Friday.
 
“As a self-funding charity, the revenue generated from our retail training stores directly supports our work of creating career pathways out of poverty,” said President and CEO James Stiff. “We do this by offering career development, training and education services to anyone in need of a job. And now more than ever these services are critical to help our neighbors get back to work.”
 
Goodwill has been designated an essential business and has been accepting material donations for future resale in its stores as well as Personal Protective Equipment to be passed on to frontline healthcare workers.
 
The charity is also collecting non-perishable food items for donation to area foodbanks.
 
A non-contact donation procedure has been implemented in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Donations are accepted daily from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Upon reopening, Goodwill retail store hours will be 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., seven days a week.
 
“In compliance with the ‘Shelter in Place’ order, we made the difficult decision to close our stores in order to make the right plans, and take the right steps to safely operate as an essential business,” Stiff said. “We took this time to thoroughly disinfect every store and implement our new safety procedures before reopening on Friday. Our team has been learning best practice ideas from autonomous sister Goodwills in Savannah, Greenville and Charleston, who reopened in April.”
 
Shoppers can be assured Goodwill has taken precautions to ensure the protection of employees and customers. With the donation doors being open, bountiful new inventory has come in over the past several weeks to stock the sales floor.
 
“Goodwill is critical to the recovery of all those impacted by COVID-19,” said Stiff. “We are able to help the citizens of Georgia and South Carolina get back to work so they can pay their bills and put food on their tables. We are going to contribute to the economic recovery in our service area by helping people develop their God-given gifts through education, work and career development services.”
 
The local Goodwill is bringing an initial group of more than 200 employees off furlough to man the reopening initiative.
 
“Goodwill wants to be there after the storm and the stimulus to give a ‘hand up’ to all people who want to experience the pride and dignity of a paycheck.” Stiff said.