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

Dear Goodwill Family –

I am writing to give you an update on the current state of our Goodwill, and will begin sending these out every Friday afternoon for the duration of this crisis. My hope is that those of you who receive email will pass the information on to your staff and co-workers who may not receive this directly during these times.

As of last night at midnight, we are in a “Stay Home, Stay Safe” order from our Governor, made in order to slow the spread of the coronavirus so that our medical system can keep up with the demand for critical care. We are in an unprecedented time, and the past week has likely left all of you feeling grief about all the changes in our world, fear about a disease we can’t see, uncertainty in how bills will get paid and other needs will be met, worry for family and friends whom we can no longer reach out and touch, and anxiety because so much is unknown. All of this is understandable and can be expected.

We have been called upon to do the extraordinary in the truest sense of the word. It is hard to sit still in the face of a threat, but that is precisely what many of us need to do. Others among us are still doing heroic work, on the front lines of this pandemic, and I will talk about those people in a little more detail.

Our industrial services center has been getting an increasein orders over the last few days. We provide work for manufacturing that is considered essential right now and, by extension, ours is also essential. Our work center is part of the war effort against this virus, and I am so grateful for the staff who have been willing to be reassigned. All of our clients are home and sheltering in place, and our trainers, job coaches, and others have stepped into the need.

Our janitorial staff is also on the front lines, and I have described the work they are doing as holy work: Their ability to clean and disinfect - to defeat the virus before it can infect again - is critical in caring for one another. They are working at a reduced crew and still servicing most of our contracts.

Workforce Development (Mission) staff, both in Muskegon and in Holland at the ETC, are calling our clients who are home and will continue to do so on a weekly basis. We are committed to keeping in touch with those who have called Goodwill their work and training home, in order to help prevent social isolation and to make sure that our clients have what they need. VITA finished up their work on taxes last week for the time being, and potential career center clients can still be served over the phone.

Store managers and assistant managers are safeguarding our stores and donation doors. We very quickly designed a new protocol in dealing with donations and are using personal protective gear and quarantining donations for 72 hours before handling them. Even though there is now a “stay home” order from the governor we know, from the experience of other states who are a little ahead of us in combating COVID-19, that people are likely to violate the order and leave donations anyway.

This creates a health hazard and the potential for theft. Our store management is making sure that donations do not pile up outside and are therefore critical to maintaining the health of our organization and community.

Our staff in IT, HR, finance, and maintenance are supporting those who are still working. We have moved remarkably quickly to set up the systems we need to keep our business running. We keep coming up with solutions to the challenges that face us. Finance is tracking cash flow daily and watching expenses. IT has made sure that many of us can work at home and, just today, Harold put up a mailbox at the corporate office to take care of the mail when our front doors are locked.

The most painful reality for us in this time is that so many of our colleagues have been temporarily laid-off. I can’t state strongly enough how much I am looking forward to bringing EVERYONE back to work. This is a temporary situation, and we want all of you back. I am grateful to Kristin, Pattie, and Jamie for helping our staff with the unemployment process and for communicating this action with grace and care. I know this is a hardship for so many of our people, and we are working to target our assistance to those of you who need it most. Yesterday, our board approved an employee assistance fund to help with basic needs during this time. Funding is already coming in from several of our landlords whom we asked to decrease our rent and to make a donation of that reduction to this fund. More about how to access this assistance will be coming to you shortly.

We are also looking for opportunities for our staff who are laid off to get other employment if they would like to be working. There are many retailers who are providing critical services (like grocery) who are hiring and need talented people like ours. We are working through GoodTemps and HR to investigate those possibilities and to determine how we can best be helpful in connecting our staff who are interested with the greatest need.

The opportunities to help are coming in a variety of ways. Just today, our partner in recycling and sustainability, Spectrum Health, has requested that we provide trucks and drivers to pick up and deliver needed personal protective equipment, and we have agreed to do so. We will continue to be responsive to community requests and, in addition, will actively look for other opportunities.

Please take excellent care of yourselves. Stay home, but when you can’t, practice social distancing and all the CDC’s recommendations about washing hands, covering coughs with elbow or tissue, and staying home when sick. I am so grateful for all of you.

Jeanette Hoyer
President and CEO