Goodwill Industries

After reading Andrea Walker 's story about Marge Walker and Goodwill Industries, I felt that it should have appeared in a more prominent place in your newspaper ("Goodwill has grown; so have needs," May 29). Nonprofits like Goodwill perform outstanding service to the community. We spend hundreds of thousands of dollars incarcerating men and women for various crimes, often with little thought of their need for housing and job-training upon release to help them transition back into society and reduce the possibility of recidivism.

Goodwill Industries of Monocacy Valley on Friday hosted a grand re-opening of its Westminster retail store and donation center off Route 140 at Englar Road. The store has more than 14,000 square feet of retail space, and also has a new drive-through donation center. "The newly remodeled store will allow Goodwill to more efficiently accept donations and better present merchandise in our retail store," said Dan Kurtenbach, president and CEO of Goodwill Industries of Monocacy Valley.

Pretty scary stuff greeted guests -- especially if they were not Baltimore Ravens fans -- at "Shannon Sharpe's Second Annual Gridiron Halloween Party," a sports-themed Halloween shindig that raised some $90,000 for Goodwill Industries of the Chesapeake. Just inside the ESPN Zone door, 600 guests were greeted with a mock graveyard with headstones displaying inscriptions like "RIP Broncos, 21-3," or "RIP Giants, 34-7." Then there were all the Ravens players who had undergone horrifying transformations.

Goodwill will open a new store next Friday in Glen Burnie, the sixth location in Anne Arundel County. The store at 7311 Ritchie Highway will open at 9 a.m. July 27 and employ 13 workers. During the grand opening weekend, customers can enter to win a flat screen television or Kindle Fire. Donations to Goodwill and proceeds from store sales help pay for job training and placement programs for people with disabilities. Goodwill Industries of the Chesapeake Inc. employs more than 600 people and runs 27 stores and nine career development sites.

Goodwill Industries of the Chesapeake Inc. said Wednesday that Lisa Rusyniak will take over as president and chief executive officer in December. Rusyniak, Goodwill's chief operating officer, will replace Marge Thomas, who is planning to step down as president and CEO. Rusyniak has worked for the nonprofit since 1997, when she was hired as director of marketing and disability services. She has served as COO since 2006, overseeing workforce development, human resources, and marketing and development.

Marge Thomas has spent the last three decades helping the less fortunate find jobs. But the 64-year-old recently announced that she would retire from her post as president and CEO of Goodwill Industries of the Chesapeake Inc. in December. She said she'll leave with good memories and proud accomplishments. During her tenure, she widely expanded job services to people hardest to employ: those with mental and physical disabilities, criminal backgrounds or leaving public assistance.

WESTMINSTER -- Goodwill Industries, a non-profit agency which trains disabled people, has opened its first Carroll store in the 140 Village Shopping Center.Occupying a center space left vacant by a movie theater, the facility has been collecting donations and selling the refurbished goods to the public since Sept. 9."People have been beating to get in the door," said John Brown, executive director for Goodwill Industries of Monocacy Valley, Inc.For example, after only two weeks, the store is already becoming self-sufficient, paying rent and salaries from the items sold, Mr. Brown said.

A charity's program to educate city schoolchildren about the importance of choosing a career has discovered that the children's unemployed parents need help first."

They arrived early, waiting in a line that stretched out the door and filled an adjoining room. A father whose five children bombarded Santa Claus with requests -- gifts that he probably can't afford, his only income a disability check. A man who lost a leg in a shooting, unsure of where he might eat his Thanksgiving dinner today. "McDonald's maybe," he mumbled. But yesterday, thousands of city residents had a free Thanksgiving meal that included turkey and cranberry sauce, kale and sauerkraut, and thick slices of raspberry swirl cheesecake.

Baltimore Goodwill Industries and the city Department of Social Services have teamed up to open a one-stop job center to help welfare recipients move into paying jobs.In addition to having a wide variety of programs to assist job hunters, the new center houses a Social Services office that qualifies job applicants for the services, said Fred de Gregorio, a vice president of Goodwill."It keeps people from running all over town. They can do everything at one site," de Gregorio said of the center, which was officially opened by Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke in a ceremony Friday.

Goodwill Industries of the Chesapeake Inc. said Wednesday that Lisa Rusyniak will take over as president and chief executive officer in December. Rusyniak, Goodwill's chief operating officer, will replace Marge Thomas, who is planning to step down as president and CEO. Rusyniak has worked for the nonprofit since 1997, when she was hired as director of marketing and disability services. She has served as COO since 2006, overseeing workforce development, human resources, and marketing and development.

AP Self Storage is holding a Spread Goodwill Clothing Drive during June. The Harford County-based company will be accepting clothing and shoes through June 30. AP is working in conjunction with Goodwill Industries, which will receive the donation of the collected items. Donations should be dropped off at 1339 Belcamp Road in Belcamp during regular business hours. AP Property Manager Adam Parsons says, "We are really excited about the Goodwill Drive. Goodwill Industries reaches out to youth, seniors, veterans and military families, immigrants, people with disabilities and others with specialized needs in our communities.

After reading Andrea Walker 's story about Marge Walker and Goodwill Industries, I felt that it should have appeared in a more prominent place in your newspaper ("Goodwill has grown; so have needs," May 29). Nonprofits like Goodwill perform outstanding service to the community. We spend hundreds of thousands of dollars incarcerating men and women for various crimes, often with little thought of their need for housing and job-training upon release to help them transition back into society and reduce the possibility of recidivism.

Marge Thomas has spent the last three decades helping the less fortunate find jobs. But the 64-year-old recently announced that she would retire from her post as president and CEO of Goodwill Industries of the Chesapeake Inc. in December. She said she'll leave with good memories and proud accomplishments. During her tenure, she widely expanded job services to people hardest to employ: those with mental and physical disabilities, criminal backgrounds or leaving public assistance.

AAA, Goodwill offer "Luggage Trade-In/Trade-Up" program What's the deal? Donate your gently used luggage to Goodwill Industries retail stores and receive a discount voucher good for the purchase of new luggage from local AAA Mid-Atlantic stores. What are the savings? For every piece of gently used luggage dropped off at one of Goodwill's donation centers by April 16, donors will receive a discount voucher good for 40 percent off a piece of Antler Luggage or $25 off a luggage purchase of $50 or more.

The state's nonprofits weathered the early periods of the recession better than their for-profit counterparts, one study says, but that might be changing as donors continue to pull back. Nonprofit employment increased by 2.7 percent in 2008, while for-profit employment decreased by 3.3 percent, according to a study released Monday by the Johns Hopkins Center for Civil Society Studies. Maryland's nonprofit workforce represented about 10.1 percent of all jobs by the end of 2008, the study found.

Had it not been for the discerning eyes of Goodwill store employees, the research skills of the store manager and the help of a few art historians, the Parisian street scene painted by Impressionist Edouard-Leon Cortes might well be hanging today in a college dorm room, over a bed in some cheap Highway 50 motel, or on the faux wood-paneled walls of an Eastern Shore double-wide. Instead, the painting that was dropped off along with the rest of the day's intake at the Goodwill store in Easton - pots and pans, end tables, clothes, coffee machines, clock radios and the like - is in the hands of an anonymous connoisseur of French Impressionist art, or at least someone who appreciated it enough to fork over $40,600 for the piece at a Sotheby's auction a few weeks ago. "It could have very easily ended up put in a pile, marked for $20," said Ursula Villar, marketing and development director for Goodwill Industries of the Chesapeake Inc. It's not unusual for buried treasure to be found at a Goodwill store, but most tales of fantastic finds emerge after a customer has left the store with a bargain-priced item, only to find out its true value later.