Helping people prepare for, find, and keep good jobs is what Goodwill is about.

Hi Everyone –

I began writing this Tuesday on the date our Governor and MIOSHA have said that no one, vaccinated or not, need wear a mask. COVID is still a danger, but it seems that we are coming out on the other side of this global pandemic, and I am grateful to those of you who have chosen to be vaccinated as this has been a critical effort in getting us this far. Due to this progress and our financial recovery, in the last two weeks we:

·       Met in person for our first retail managers meeting.

·       Ended the enhanced cash flow analysis and operational updates that were shared with the board on a monthly basis in order to maintain a close eye on the financial impact of COVID.

·       Re-opened our Career Center and our store dressing rooms.

·       Brought the remainder of our staff back to a minimum of working three days in the office.

·       Took down mask-related signage in all our locations.

·       Began to hold huddles both at the ROC and in the Career Center.

There are a whole bunch of things we still need to make decisions about, but we have begun to unravel all the actions we took in response to COVID. I will not be sending these letters as frequently, although they will continue to be a way to communicate as needed. As we rejoice in getting back to our lives as we knew them, let us also take a moment to grieve for the lives lost to this virus. Our losses are heavy even as we look to the future.

Vitally important to our future are a number of announcements I am enthusiastic about making. Whenever we have openings, particularly with executive leadership, it gives us an opportunity to evaluate our structure. As a result of this evaluation there are a couple of changes in positions and organizational framework:

·       Kristin Garris is being promoted to Chief Workforce Officer beginning July 1. She will oversee Workforce Development, GoodTemps, and Human Resources in addition to her roles in guiding strategy and continuous quality improvement for the organization. She has acted as my right hand since she came on board, caring for our most important asset – our people. Our desire is that we provide at least as many opportunities for our staff as we do for our clients, and aligning her with all of our people services makes sense. In addition, this title clarifies the role she has always had in championing our forward momentum in strategic planning, KPI identification, quality improvement, and cultural transformation across the entirety of GIWM.

·       Pattie Piekarski is being promoted to Human Resources Manager and will oversee daily operations of HR as well as provide direct supervision for benefits, recruitment, and employee engagement/retention.

·       We will not re-hire the Workforce Development Director position at this time. Matt Cashbaugh is being promoted to lead our services to people with disabilities and will be our new Program Manager for that population. He will oversee the Holland ETC staff and operations, and Job Coaches in Muskegon.

·       Asset Protection and Safety will move to Ryan Risley’s purview, and he will bring great value in assisting newly appointed Asset Protection and Safety Manager Shelly Schmid to develop and lead those efforts.

·       Nick Carlson will be joining us July 12 as our new Business Development Director. He will lead Industrial Services, Janitorial Services, and Sustainability and comes to us from Goodwill of Greater Grand Rapids. He started his Goodwill career with us, however, so this is a bit of a homecoming for him. He brings tremendous experience and connections in sustainability, is data driven, detail oriented, and also visionary. Most importantly, he is eager to be part of our team, sharing our value of caring deeply about people, families, and community.

We will send a new organizational chart shortly so that you can get a visual on these changes.

Exciting things continue in all departments -

·       Welcome to Christie Tice, our new Resource Navigator for our Justice-Involved Services!

·       EXIT participants are now learning in the Carlson Classroom on Monday afternoons.

·       The trial period on our VR headset is complete and ready to be utilized with clients.

·       Our Ferrysburg Donation Center is processing textiles to help keep our Apple store fresh and full.

·       Janitorial Occupational Training is successfully running through great partnerships with Blue Lake and Fricano’s.

·       We are up over 13% in same store sales over 2019.

·       A new textile process is being implemented to support our new certification opportunity.

·       Our first load of baled cardboard is ready to go out.

·       The Y Learning Center is open and taking children in for care.

·       GoodTemps has three new contracts.

AND SO MUCH MORE!

Be well, all of you. I am so proud of what we have accomplished and the ways we continue to serve.

Jeanette