Goodwill San Diego is asking community members to save their donations until the nonprofit reopens. At this time, community members are leaving their donations at temporarily closed donation centers and retail locations, creating a pile-up of product, looting, and a safety hazard. In compliance with state and local orders for non-essential businesses to cease operations, Goodwill San Diego closed its clearance centers, donation centers, retail stores, and community employment centers in the county last week.
“We are incredibly grateful for a community that has supported our organization and mission for 90 years. Temporarily closing our operation has been incredibly difficult,” shared Toni Giffin, president and CEO.
“As instructed, and to protect the health and safety or our ambassadors (employees) and our community, we are complying with the governor’s orders. We want to do everything we can to reduce the amount of COVID-19 cases in our community. It is my hope that our community members will honor our actions and hold on to their donations until we reopen when we will need them urgently, and thankfully receive them at that time.” Goodwill San Diego and many other local nonprofit organizations will need the community’s support in the days ahead. Goodwill relies on the sale of sellable household goods, clothing, furniture, home décor and other donations to fund its mission. Goodwill uses the revenue from donations to provide training and employment opportunities to people with disabilities and other barriers to employment. In 2019, Goodwill San Diego helped more than 6,000 people in the community with their job search. The nonprofit’s five Community Employment Centers in the county provide one-on-one free job search assistance and soft skill workshops about workplace communication, interview preparation, online job application, resumes, and computer basics.
Goodwill San Diego employs over 1,400 San Diego County residents, the majority of whom are not working at this time but are being paid for a minimum of two weeks. Nearly 50 percent are a person with a disability or other barrier to employment including seniors, young adults, veterans, the unsheltered, military families, people reintegrating into our community from incarceration, and others. In addition, Goodwill San Diego is the county’s largest retail employer of people with developmental disabilities. Goodwill retail stores are known for providing quality used merchandise. This includes clothing, shoes, accessories, home décor, housewares, and furniture. Electronics and sporting goods are available at select locations. Shopping is available online at shopgoodwill.com.
