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

Hi Everyone –

Kristin let me know that we have received some feedback from staff questioning why we are working in our retail stores as our retail was not considered “critical infrastructure” or essential business according to the governor’s executive order.  My letter today will take one that she wrote to the retail staff yesterday and expound upon it for everyone. A natural response from staff, based on this incorrect understanding, suggests that we are putting staff at risk unnecessarily and are encouraging the community to break the shelter in place order by bringing us their donations. There is nothing further from the truth, as I am a strong supporter of the governor’s order, and believe that this order is critical in preventing further spread of the COVID-19 disease. We acted 72 hours ahead of any other Goodwill in Michigan to close our stores in order to promote the safety of our staff and customers, and nearly a week before the governor’s order was announced.  We began quarantining anything dropped at our stores before 85% of Goodwills in the nation. We have been very serious about ensuring safety from the beginning. It is critical that we all understand why we are doing what we are doing, especially as some of our people continue to work. 

To be very clear, Goodwill is not soliciting general donations. We are minimally staffing the stores in response to people who are breaking the law by dropping off their goods. Gov. Whitmer’s executive order supports the control of trash and recycled materials and to that end, we are acting 100% in accordance with the order. Further support of our action comes from the Michigan Recycling Coalition, who has deemed us necessary to support the recycling infrastructure. We are fortunate to be able to continue support of our recycling efforts through identifying store managers and assistant managers as “essential” employees, and I advocated for this very thing with the governor’s office prior to the issuing of the order. Store management is in place to retrieve dropped-off donations, care for buildings, connect with non-working staff via phone, clean, and in some cases process goods, and prepare the stores to reopen.  We have excellent processes in place to ensure this is done safely and responsibly.

Because we were able to maintain our store managers and assistant managers, we were able this week to rise to the call and say an enthusiastic “yes!” to partnership with Spectrum Health, Mercy Health, and the Muskegon County Health Department. We are now helping to collect and distribute critically needed donated personal protective equipment. These medical partners were eager for our help with donations because donations is what we do - we are experts in this department and are recognized as such.  To that end, we are staffing seven stores to support collection.  We are proud to be supporting our COVID-19 front line heroes by doing what only we can do exceptionally well.

I am also proud of the work we are doing in workforce development (mission) to get ready for when we do re-open. We are applying for grants that would expand training to those incarcerated and grants that will help us continue our journey toward providing childcare. We received the grant giving us two more vans for janitorial (through MDOT). The IRS extended the tax filing deadline to July 15 so we can potentially still help those people whose appointments were cancelled, but we’re not sure how many of our volunteers will still be available. Carl is thinking through the use of new technology that would allow us to more quickly process tax returns safely and we continue to develop a process for serving walk-in clientele – a service that will be in exceptionally high demand when the stay home order is lifted.

This week we have continued to be deeply engaged in the constantly changing legislative landscape and are exploring ways that we can support our employees who are still working. A big question for us is whether or not we are an organization of under or over 500 employees – this may seem like an easy question, but it rests on whether or not clients are counted. If yes, clients are counted, we are over. If no, we are under. Much of the eligibility for loans, loan forgiveness, and potential employee benefits are based on this question. Legal opinions on this matter vary, and we continue to work toward clarity. Know that we are measuring the impact of any action we take as an organization on all of you.

I want to acknowledge that an important person for many was one of the first people in Muskegon to die of COVID-19. Bishop Nathaniel Wells Jr. served as pastor to Holy Trinity Church of God in Christ for many years and he is mourned deeply by his community. My heart goes out to those who have lost their church leader and friend. To all of us at GIWM, we are at the beginning of the grief we will experience at the hands of this disease, but my hope is that we are also at the beginning of a deepening compassion and empathy for our friends and neighbors.

Be well, all of you –

Jeanette