Hello All ...
I've only been a member for a little over a day but I thought I'd try posting my first NEW TOPIC (I posted 3 replies to existing topics yesterday to 'get my feet wet" on these boards. I'm going to try some adventurous things in this post ... like moving type and inserting photos and such ... some of it may not work out the way I intend ... but the only way to learn is trial and error (well maybe not the only way but its a good way for many of the things we need to learn in life).
I used to be a magazine writer before 9-11 but the magazine I wrote for every month didn't survive very long after 9-11 ... they had been having some money problems and had gotten a new backer/partner right before 9-11 ... but 9-11 scared him off and the magazine closed several months later.
So I thought I'd put some of my writing skills to work here today.
If you visit your local GOODWILL thrift store you may see signs promoting '100 years of Goodwill' we have them here at the local Goodwill in Long Island, NY. ... seems to me like the perfect topic to get my NEW TOPIC posting skill practice with so ...
What we are really celebrating the 100th Anniversary of ... is GOODWILL getting its name! In 1915 the organization started going under the name of Goodwill ... but their story really begins even earlier than 1915. So lets start at the beginning, shall we?
There would not be the Goodwill Thrift Stores of today had it not been for it's founder Edgar J. Helms ... so lets begin by learning a little about the MAN BEHIND the thrift stores.
Pictured: (Left): Edgar J. Helms (Center): Goodwill circa 1935 (Right): An Advertisement for Goodwill from 1935To tell Goodwill's story ... first let me take you back in time to the year 1863. It is a much different time in American Life ...
The Civil War is raging here on American soil and the country has become a series of battlegrounds ... The Emancipation Proclamation is issued by Lincoln to free slaves in confederate states. The 1st homestead under the Homestead Act was claimed at the beginning of the year, near Beatrice, Nebraska. Four wheeled roller skates are patented by James Plimpton of NY. The Congress creates national banking system, comptroller of currency and Lincoln signs National Currency Act. Samuel Clemens uses the pen name 'Mark Twain' for first time. Gold certificates (currency) authorized by US Congress. The 1st black regiment (54 Mass) leaves Boston to fight in Civil War and less than a month later Harriet Tubman leads Union guerrillas into Maryland, freeing slaves. Mexico City is captured by French troops. The 1st military draft in US history is begun (exemptions cost $100). Anti-draft mobs lynch blacks in NYC; about 1,000 die. President Lincoln issues "eye-for-eye" order to shoot a rebel prisoner for every black prisoner shot. But the Civil war is not the only war going on in the USA ... 'Indian War' events include Chief Pocatello of the Shoshone tribe signing the Treaty of Box Elder, promising to stop harassing the emigrant trails in southern Idaho and northern Utah. Lincoln designates last Thursday in November as Thanksgiving Day. President Lincoln delivers his Gettysburg address beginning; "Four score & seven years ago..." Lincoln's Amnesty Proclamation and plan for Reconstruction of South is announced near the end of the year.
Click Here to learn more about the year 1863Why is the year 1863 important to the GOODWILL story ... because it is the year its founder, Edgar J. Helms was born ... January 19, 1863 in Malone, NY to be exact.
This is the world young Edgar will experience ... after considering several other life callings like law and journalism ... the young man decides he needs to do something to improve American life ... and that something is entering the ministry. So in 1889 Helms enrolls in Boston University Theological School. In 1892 Helms marries his childhood sweetheart and takes over the struggling inner city mission in Boston’s South End, Morgan Chapel, established a generation earlier by Henry Morgan.
"It is ability, not disability that counts." ~~ Edgar J. Helms
Although not considered the 'official' birth of GOODWILL in 1896 Helms and others he has infected with his passion for helping the less fortunate of America will start using burlap bags from Thomas Wood and Company and go door-to-door in Boston’s wealthiest districts asking for donations of clothing and household goods. THIS is really the beginnings of what we know of as the Goodwill Thrift Stores today. Unlike other charities of the day Helms' organization emphasizes that donated goods could be sold for profit and
that money would be used to pay workers who helped refurbish those goods. Most of the items collected in these infancy days of the charitable organization are in need of repair and Helms hires the 'unhireable' of the day ... the disabled. Giving them more than just money and goods they have repaired in exchange for their labor ... they also gain self respect in a society that tends to relegate them to handouts.
The Original Steps of Production from burlap bag to buyer...
Filling a bag, Collection, Cleaning, Sorting, Mending, Repairing, Pricing, Thrift Store Sales
HANDICAPS REPRESENTED AMONG GOODWILL EMPLOYEES (as of December 1946 -- reported in an annual report of the day)
10% Blind, Deaf or Defective Speech
14% Mental, Emotional or Social Handicaps
17% Non-Handicapped
20% Handicapped by Age or Infirmity
39% Orthopedic or General Health Handicaps
"Be dissatisfied with your work until every handicapped and unfortunate person in your community has an opportunity to develop to his fullest usefulness and enjoy a maximum of abundant living." ~~ Edgar J. HelmsBy the year 1905 the growth of the organization is so much so that “Morgan Memorial Cooperative Industries and Stores Inc.” becomes a nonprofit, charitable corporation. And 10 years later in 1915, when representatives from a workshop in Brooklyn, NY, come to Boston to learn Helms’ techniques, they adopt the Morgan Memorial way and Helms adopts a phrase they coined at the workshop —
Goodwill Industries.With the support of the Methodist church Goodwill would grow to 15 stores in 5 years. Workers with the organization would start everyday with nondenominational songs of praise and inspiration. But eventually federal funding requirements would make it necessary for Goodwill to become a more secular organization.
The year 1921 sees the birth of the slogan —
Not Charity, But a Chance— to publicize Goodwill's efforts to give people hope and independence through work. Also this year thrift store receipts top
$1 million for the first time.
About a decade after Helms had warned Goodwill Industries to prepare for the day of economic reckoning, Wall Street crashes... and Goodwill helps thousands of people who become destitute.
In 1941 the Japanese attack Pearl Harbor, which galvanizes Americans and Goodwill. Goodwill reacts by participating in the “Bundles for Europe” program, sending used clothing to Allied countries hardest hit by the war. And introduces a new slogan —
Salvage for Victory.This would be one of the last major Goodwill projects that founder Edgar J. Helms would be involved in for Helms passed away on December 23, 1942. An estimated 1,500 people throng Boston’s Morgan Memorial Church of All Nations to pay their final tributes.
I will close with a quote from their 1946 Annual Report used to illustrate their ULTIMATE OBJECTIVES ...
"Ideals are like stars; you will not succeed in touching them with your hands. But like the seafaring man you choose them as your guides and will reach your destiny." ~~ Carl SchurzExternal Links that were source material...
First 100 Years Timeline
The Goodwill Way: 1946 Annual Report, Goodwill Industries Of America~~~~~~~~
(please excuse any typos I did my best)
