Ambassador2011Q1

Ambassador Jan. - March 2011

Wedding Gala 2011 High Fashion, Low Prices, Wedding Day Savings The Tale of Two Brides Microsoft Gives Goodwill $236K Grant Our business is changing lives.

giveit2goodwill.org Jan. - March 2011

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contents

6 10 14 4 5 6

Recapping a record year

Donate Forward

More Services = More Career Opportunities

7 8 9

Microsoft Grant

Jeffrey Ballenger’s job at Goodwill relieves stress

Idalba Tabares - Matching clients and careers

President & CEO - David Lifsey Sr. Director of Marketing & Community Relations - Karl Houston Art Director & Photographer - Scott Bryant Writer & Copy Editor - Suzanne Kay-Pittman

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Goodwill’s Wedding Gala - Bridal bliss

Faith Warf bakes bread for her customers

John Stone reflects on his year as Chairman of the Board

Ambassador is a quarterly newsletter published by Goodwill Industries of Middle Tennessee, Inc. 1015 Herman St. Nashville, TN 37208 For the nearest retail store, donation center, or Career Solutions facility, please call 615.742.4151 or visit giveit2goodwill.org.

The Ambassador provides its readers with stories about the events, activities and people who support the mission of Goodwill Industries of Middle Tennessee. We are pleased to provide you this information and hope you will share our publication with others. Please note, the opinions expressed in the Ambassador do not necessarily reflect an opinion or official position of the management or employees of Goodwill Industries of Middle Tennessee, Inc. Goodwill’s Mission: We sell donated goods to provide employment and training opportunities for people who have disabilities and others who have trouble finding and keeping jobs.

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giveit2goodwill.org Jan. - March 2011

Need a

Helping

Hand?

Goodwill Cares

C

gives back to those is need.

onsider all the not-for-profits in your community. Most ask for help in serving their mission, Goodwill included. Most agencies rely on financial contributions. At Goodwill, we ask for gently-used items that can be sold in our stores in order to fund our mission of providing job training and services. But we also give back through our community relations team and the Goodwill Cares program.

While Goodwill may not be a first responder after a disaster, we are always available to help individuals and families experiencing a hardship or recent economic change, with the donation of a gift card that can be used in Goodwill stores.

What’s considered a hardship?

• Homelessness • Domestic violence • Victims of fire, natural disasters, etc.

• Foster care situations A number of area agencies refer their clients to Goodwill Cares for assistance with clothing, furniture and household items. While several of these organizations may have clothing closets for clients, they may not have the right size or style to fit a particular need such as a job interview or other event. Through Goodwill Cares, which will provide a Goodwill gift card to use at any of our store locations, those clients can shop at a Goodwill store for the appropriate clothing.

The YWCA refers domestic violence clients who, in many cases, had to leave all their clothing and children’s clothing to escape a violent home. In addition, some community-based organizations have assisted their clients in finding employment, but the new hire is required to wear specific outfits for their job, such as black slacks and a white shirt, which they can find in a Goodwill retail store.

There are specific criteria to qualify for a Goodwill Cares gift card. Applicants must submit supporting documentation from a case worker, social worker, probation officer, pastor or rabbi, or other supporting agency. A supporting agency could be a church or synagogue, nonprofit agency, school or transitional living facility.

For more information, please contact Goodwill’s Community Relations Manager, Natisha Moultry, at Natisha.Moultry@givegw.org or via phone or fax at (615)346-1601.

A short list of nonprofit agencies that work with Goodwill Cares includes: • • • • • • •

Metro Nashville Public Schools L.A.S. Therapy Network & Development Project Return Mending Hearts YWCA Nashville Cares United Cerebral Palsy

Agencies such as Metro Nashville Public Schools have come to Goodwill Cares for assistance for students who are not able to afford standard school attire or uniforms. giveit2goodwill.org Jan. - March 2011

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2010 ends with

record sales &

donations Donations

Our Donation Express Center attendants served 38,705 donors between December 26 and December 31. That’s up 10 percent over the previous year. On New Year’s Eve, Friday, December 31, we served 12,339 donors in our 67 DECs. That’s a record number of people who generously gave their gently-used items to Goodwill.

While the rush of donors can be directly attributed to many people who wanted a tax write-off for 2010, interestingly, only 37 percent of donors actually accepted a receipt. Many other donors told our attendants they were more interested in giving their items to support our mission or had cleared their closets.

The non-stop stream of shoppers and donors kept our donations and retail teams on their toes as the sun set on 2010. Thanks to them, we reached record numbers.

Retail

With record donations comes record inventory. Director of Retail, David Jenkins, is ready to put those donations on the racks and shelves at our 30 stores to continue the upward trend in sales. Overall sales in our stores were up eight percent in 2010. Three stores topped the $2 million mark including Clarksville I, Rivergate and Cookeville. Another 10 stores sold more than $1.5 million in goods in 2010.

What Does this Mean for our Mission?

Without the generosity of our donors and the shoppers who frequent our stores, our Goodwill would not be able to carry out its mission of providing employment and training opportunities for people who have disabilities and others who have trouble finding and keeping a job. The revenue from the sale of the donations not only provides free job services to the thousands of Tennesseans who work with our Career Solutions counselors, it also supports the 1,500 employees who earn a paycheck at Goodwill Industries of Middle Tennessee. That paycheck creates a ripple effect and gives us all the opportunity to be a better parent, spouse, child, sibling, employee and member of the community. And it’s all possible because of the simple act of donating gently-used items.

Our donors deserve credit because they really do change lives!

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giveit2goodwill.org Jan. - March 2011

donate

forward One week of giving adds up to hours of free training

S

pring cleaning, getting rid of your clutter, nesting, prepping for the warmer months, whatever your reason, when you bag your no-longer needed items and give them to Goodwill, you’re giving yourself the gift of space and a Goodwill client the gift of free job services.

Goodwill has 67 Donation Express Centers located throughout the 46 counties in middle and west Tennessee that are served by the company. We make it easy to donate. And we want you to help us with a huge donations push the week of March 20 through March 26. Donate Forward.

When you donate, you support the growing list of free job training programs and continuing services offered by Career Solutions (see story, page 6). Donate six outgrown t-shirts, six purses that are so not your style any longer, six pairs of jeans in multiple sizes and six sweaters that don’t match your new slacks, and you’ve donated 4.6 hours of free training. That’s a gift that can also be measured by looking ahead. Those hours may be all that stands between a client who needs a job and finding employment.

With employment comes self-sufficiency, the ability to support a family, and the chance to be an integral part of the community. Our Donations Express Centers are easy to find at giveit2goodwill.org/ donations, our attendants are ready to help, your donations are putting people to work and allow Goodwill to continue its mission of providing employment and training opportunities for people who have disabilities and others who have trouble finding and keeping a job.

Donate forward. It’s a great way to start the year!

shoes change lives Remember the Nancy Sinatra song, These Boots are Made for Walking? It seems boots and shoes just aren’t walking into Goodwill’s Donation Express Centers fast enough.

Here’s motivation to clear out your closet. Consider the numbers. Let’s say your kids have outgrown their shoes. You probably have several pairs from each of them, plus a few more that are no longer your style. Add up the number of pairs you have to donate. If you’re donating 12 pairs of shoes, it equals one and a half hours of free on-the-job training for a Goodwill client. That’s a tangible benefit.

That’s another drop in the ripple effect of the benefits provided by Goodwill.

Imagine if you could take a walk in our shoes, and realize how important your donations are to Goodwill’s mission, then go ahead and donate. It will be a good thing. Your shoes are drops in an ever-growing ripple effect. The more shoes you donate equals more free job services Goodwill can offer through Career Solutions. Your shoes will help change lives.

One dozen pairs of shoes = 1.7 hours of free career counseling for someone in your community. giveit2goodwill.org Read how you are changing lives by visiting www.

Jan. - March 2011 giveit2goodwill.org/successstories

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Donations Fuel New Careers Diverse

careers are just a decision away for clients.

If you’ve seen our Goodwill’s billboards and commercials, the wraps on our trucks or signs in our stores, you know that our mantra is give it to Goodwill and you give jobs. Thanks to the generosity of our donors, and the sale of those donations in our stores, a wide-range of new job training programs are being rolled out by the Career Solutions team. Those programs mean more opportunities for our clients to earn a paycheck, support their family, and be an integral part of their communities.

Document and Image Scanning Program Paper files are still a reality in this day of technology and online document management. For many companies that maintain paperwork on file, there is a need for secure and reliable document storage and destruction services. Law firms, physicians, accounting firms and businesses that maintain personal and sensitive information, will soon be able to hire Goodwill’s trained and pre-screened candidates to handle those files.

Goodwill’s training program teaches candidates how to scan documents and code information into a company’s scanning system to make retrieval of the documents easy. The final step in the training is the safe destruction and disposal of those documents.

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Clients who go through Goodwill’s new document imaging and scanning program will learn how to work within the framework of each company’s customized system. Interestingly, four fourdrawer file cabinets, that’s 16 drawers, of documents can be scanned onto just a single CD, saving the storage space of 16 boxes of documents in a storeroom.

As more companies begin to implement these processes on-site, more jobs will become available. In addition, these jobs are several steps above an entry-level job since they require computer skills and understanding the scanning and coding or indexing processes.

Custodial Program Goodwill has started a training program for candidates interested in jobs as janitors or custodians. The training focuses on cleaning techniques and the care of businesses and other facilities.

Training is being conducted at the Lifsey Building in Nashville.

Candidates who enter this short-term, paid program, learn floor care, proper trash handling, restroom cleaning, and ensure the exterior of the building is properly maintained.

Many businesses employ staff to maintain their facilities, so the Career Solutions staff determined this training offers candidates strong job skills and potential employment opportunities.

Since many decide to continue their training and move on to nursing school which offers multiple job opportunities. The program is a strong first step on the road to career choices within health care.

Proudly supported by Microsoft.

Microsoft’s Elevate America Community Initiatives Grant Goes to Goodwill UP_Poster_c08.indd 1

Elevate America grant Project Digital Literacy.

11/11/2010 4:51:53 PM

to be used to fund

G

oodwill clients will soon have additional opportunities to gain computer skills, thanks to a $236,000 cash grant from Microsoft. Goodwill Industries of Middle Tennessee is one of just 12 nonprofit organizations in the country to be awarded the funding for the Microsoft Elevate America initiative. Goodwill was chosen through a competitive process in which more than 300 organizations applied for a portion of the $5 million available from the technology giant.

Goodwill’s

The grant will also help Goodwill continue to focus on the under served community, including rural, low income, people who lack digital literacy, lack access to technology, and those who have a difficult time finding jobs as technology becomes the application process of choice for employers. Through the Elevate America initiative, Goodwill expects to reach more than 3,500 clients in 2011 who do not have jobs and do not have access to computers and the Internet.

What does this mean for our Goodwill?

Microsoft chose Goodwill because, “Too “To say we are thrilled to have The money will be used to hire five trainers many Americans don’t have the technology been awarded this grant from who will travel to each of Goodwill’s 16 skills that many jobs today require,” said Career Solutions Centers to help clients Microsoft is an understatement.” Pamela Passman, corporate vice president upgrade their technology skills through

-Betty Johnson of Global Corporate Affairs at Microsoft. the company’s Project Digital Literacy. The “Goodwill Industries of Middle Tennessee trainers will work one-on-one with clients, helping them navigate has demonstrated how its programs can reach some of the most the online job search and applications processes. The centers are under served people in our society. We’re honored to partner with located throughout the 46 counties served in middle and west this Goodwill to provide training and job support to the people Tennessee by Goodwill. who need it the most.”

“This money is going to help our clients learn comprehensive job search skills. The trainers will allow us to increase our career counseling, technology skills training and job placement services,” notes Betty Johnson, the vice president of Employment Services.

She adds, “To say we are thrilled to have been awarded this grant from Microsoft is an understatement.”

For more information about Elevate America, visit microsoft.com/ElevateAmerica. giveit2goodwill.org Jan. - March 2011

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Two Sides of the

Goodw Goodwill Relieves One Man’s Stress.

“I enjoy my job and I’m thrilled to be employed,” says Jeffrey Ballenger, a sales associate at Goodwill’s Gallatin store. “I decided to come to Goodwill because it does a lot of good things for the community. It promotes confidence in employees and working with people, and it’s a big help to the community.”

Jeffrey Ballenger Sales Associate, Gallatin

Goodwill has proven to be Ballenger’s haven from the stress he dealt with at his prior jobs. “Before Goodwill I worked as an illustrator for ten years for several department stores and a manufacturing company, which had its own rewards but was stressful.”

His next job, working as a seat inspector at a General Motors manufacturing plant, ended when the auto industry went into a slump. “I had heard a lot of good things about Goodwill and wanted to give it a try. I like the work environment. We have fun at the store and I really enjoy the job. I’ve learned a lot about clothing since working there. It turned out for the better that I came to Goodwill.”

Ballenger’s positive attitude at work earned him a nomination by Gallatin store manager, Carol Justice, to be considered for one of Goodwill’s newest television commercials. “He’s a joy and so good with our customers. He’s worth $1 million,” says Justice.

Her hunch was right, and now Ballenger is part of Goodwill history as one of the faces in the anthem spot, highlighting several of our employees.

“I really liked the experience with the commercial shoot. I’m thrilled to be in the ad and on a billboard,” says Ballenger, who has advice for others who may consider working for Goodwill.

“This job has made me a more positive person toward working with the general public. My coworkers support one another and help in any way they can. It’s a great place to work.”

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giveit2goodwill.org Jan. - March 2011

See Jeffrey in Goodwill’s newest commercial by visiting youtube.com/giveit2goodwill.

will Story

Client & Counselor Dispensing More than Career Advice

Idalba Tabares is featured in Goodwill’s newest television commercial.

W

hen you watch Goodwill’s new commercial featuring five of our employees, look for the warmth in Idalba Tabares’s eyes. There’s wisdom, a presence and a sense of pride. She is the key for many of our clients hoping to find a job. “I try to bridge goals between what a client wants, their capabilities, and finding an employer for that client,” says Tabares, the career counselor at the Berry Road Career Solutions Center near downtown Nashville.

The Colombia, South America, native has been in the United States 12 years. She and her entire family emigrated after an earthquake in 1999 ravaged their home city of Armenia. The family landed in New York, and after a few stints in several other cities, Tabares moved to Nashville in 2002.

Tabares worked in a customer service job before coming to Goodwill five years ago. When she came to Goodwill she says she found her true calling. “I work hard to find the right fit for every client and each employer I work with. Even if I’m tired at the end of the day, when I’ve made the right connections, I think that I have a sense of purpose, something we call, en vano, in Spanish.”

“When people come to my office, many of them don’t have a place to live or sleep and I do all I can to help them. Goodwill allows me to act as a guide to a better life. When someone who was once homeless and unemployed and is now successful comes back to visit, it means everything to me, to know that I had a hand in helping that client.”

Idalba Tabares Career Counselor, Berry Road

This no-nonsense counselor says, “I dole out tough love. For many of my clients Goodwill is likely the last place, their last hope.” Her success speaks for itself. Tabares has one of the highest placement rates in Goodwill, placing 75 percent of her clients in jobs.

“When my clients let me help, and I see their success and their smiles, they make me feel I’ve done my job.” And as for being in the commercial, Tabares says, “I feel very proud of this company and that I help people change their lives. And the commercial makes me happy to share my own positive experience with people who can take advantage of the opportunities we offer.”

See Idalba and Jeffrey in the newest Goodwill commercial by visiting youtube.com/giveit2goodwill

giveit2goodwill.org Jan. - March 2011

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Wedding Gala 2 10

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hen the doors opened at the Rivergate store for our first-ever Wedding Gala last year, more than 350 people had waited in the cold for hours to be the first to buy designer and vintage wedding gowns at deeply discounted prices. When the event ended, most of the brides, some of whom came from hundreds of miles away, left with their dream dresses. None of the dresses sold that day cost more than $400.

If you’ve got a wedding on your 2011 to-do list, don’t miss out on wedding day deals at our second annual Wedding Gala, to be held Saturday, March 19, at the Rivergate store. And as with last year, the doors will open early, at 6:00 a.m., and all gowns will be priced from $99 to $399, including designer gowns.

The racks at Rivergate will be filled with new gowns that have been donated by area bridal boutiques with name brand tags. Natisha Moultry, the community relations manager who is overseeing the bridal gala, says, “We’ve already received gowns by Mori Lee, Alfred Angelo, Eden Bridals, Private Label by G, and I expect many more dresses between now and the gala.”

Brides who want to wear vintage gowns will also have a large selection.

The donations team has been putting aside donated wedding gowns since last March, immediately after the first gala ended.

Along with wedding gowns, brides-to-be will be able to choose bridesmaid and flower girl dresses. Mothers-of-the-bride or groom will also find a large selection of dresses. Moultry adds, “There will be an added emphasis on grooms. Street Tuxedos is one of our new sponsors this year.”

Want to see some of this year’s gowns before they go on sale? Several employees volunteered to model for the Wedding Gala Look Book, and were photographed at the newly re-opened Gaylord Opryland Hotel.

The Wedding Gala Look Book can be seen on our Web site, giveit2goodwill.org.

2011

Are you getting married in 2011? Know someone who is? Here are some tips to help you navigate during Goodwill’s wedding gala: • • • • •

•

Arrive early – Even though the doors don’t open till 6:00 a.m., you don’t want to be the last one in the store.

It could be a cold morning – Be prepared and dress accordingly while you wait for the doors to open.

Wear a body suit – It’ll make it easier for you to try on the gowns.

Have your hair styled similar to your wedding day look – It’ll help you visualize your walk down the aisle.

Have at least one friend or family member with you – An extra pair of hands will come in handy when you carry wedding gowns to the dressing rooms.

Don’t bring too many family members or friends – Sometimes too many opinions can be confusing! giveit2goodwill.org Jan. - March 2011

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Going to Goodwill & Getting Married A

bride-to-be depends on Goodwill for the wedding reception of her dreams.

Jerry Richardson, Call Center manager, wears a black and white tuxedo accented with a pink tie provided by Street Tuxedos.

Jillian Davis, job developer/job coach, models a pink tulle ball gown with a rhinestone crown.

It was love at first sight for Ashley Clapp when she caught a glimpse of Vane Owens during their sophomore year in high school. He was the new kid and she spotted him in the cafeteria. Two years later, with a little encouragement from a lot of friends, Clapp gathered her wits and asked Vane to be her date for their senior prom. He said, “Yes,” and, after seven years together, they’re tying the knot and getting married April 23.

While we all love a love story, there’s an added bonus in the Clapp/Owens affair.

They chose April 23 for their wedding because it’s Earth Day. They’ve put themselves on a strict budget of $3,000 for the day because, “When I picked up a wedding magazine, I started hyperventilating,” said Clapp with a laugh.

“I’m not traditional and all the wedding pictures seemed so structured. I love shopping at Goodwill and knew from the start that that’s where I was going to buy most of the items for my reception.”

The artist in Clapp, she’s a jewelry designer, helped her visualize her wedding day as eco-friendly, original, and eclectic, without paying big bucks. “The look I want is fun, with different linens, fabrics, and candlesticks, and even each plate and the silverware will be different patterns. I’ve shopped at a lot of Goodwill stores in Nashville and have been able to find everything from linen napkins to wine glasses for a fraction of what I’d pay to rent them from a caterer.”

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There’s still a bit of tradition in the Clapp/ Owens wedding. She’ll have plenty of items to cover something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue. “The old will come from a lot of the vintage pieces I’m buying from Goodwill, the new is my wedding dress, my family and friends have loaned me a few items, and as for the blue, you’ll see a lot of it in the place settings and linens.”

“It’s a circle of awesome!”

In keeping with the eco-friendly theme of the wedding, Clapp has one last plan. “I’m going to donate everything I’ve bought at Goodwill back to the agency after the wedding. With Goodwill I’m paying less, I’m helping people and I want to give back.

It’s a circle of awesome!”

Giving the Gift of a Wedding Gown After

a flood, one Nashvillian tells how her dress was saved for the Gala.

L

ike every bride, Linda Sisselman wanted the perfect dress for her walk down the aisle. It was 1987 and she was living in Atlanta where she and her mom searched the area’s bridal boutiques.

The $1,500 dress this Long Island, New York, native settled on was, well, not what many expected. “When I found it and put it on, it just screamed to me. My mom and I were crying in the shop. But it’s not like me at all. It’s very frilly and Southern!”

“I felt more beautiful than I ever had on my wedding day. It was special, and filled with love and family. I felt like Cinderella in that dress. I was the only daughter and my mom and I would play princess bride when I was little. My wedding day was a fairytale for me and my mom,” says Sisselman, who has been married to her husband, Lenny, for 24 years.

After their honeymoon, the Sisselmans moved to Nashville, and Linda had her gown preserved in an heirloom box and tucked it away in a closet hoping that one day, if she had daughters, they might want to wear the dress. However, girls weren’t

on the radar for the Sisselmans. They have three boys. But still, the dress stayed stored. “I thought maybe a daughter-inlaw might want to wear the dress so I kept it,” she recalls.

Then came May 1, 2010. The day Nashville flooded. The Sisselman’s home took on two feet of water. The dress was in a downstairs closet. And the box was soaked. Through the painstaking process of finding salvageable items, Linda was certain her wedding gown was ruined.

“When I saw that the box was drenched my heart sank. But when I opened it, it was so well preserved in a sealed bag that it was still in perfect condition.”

“The flood changed everything.

Emotionally I decided I would no longer hang on to things I didn’t really need.

Then I remembered Goodwill’s Wedding Gala last year and I spoke to my mom about donating the dress and she thought it was a great idea,” said Sisselman. It was an important conversation that still resonants with her.

Tricia Slack, Human Resources generalist, is wearing a jewel-encrusted halter-style wedding gown and rhinestone earrings.

Josh Williams, manager of network and operations, poses models a traditional black and white tuxedo provided by Street Tuxedos.

“My mom died several months later.

I’m so glad she was OK with my plan to donate the dress.”

So what does she hope for the bride who buys her dress at the 2011 Wedding Gala? “I want her to have as much happiness and joy in her life as I’ve had. I’m so glad I gave the dress to Goodwill. It survived the flood. It’s tough and proves that love survives.”

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Queen of Bread

Kneading Help

and

Rising

to the

Challenge

I

t’s happened to all of us. We walk into a grocery store and the smell of baking bread wafting from the bakery draws us to the source. It’s tough to resist and we usually walk away with a warm loaf of French, multigrain or whole wheat bread. Faith Warf gets a kick out of that happening every day she works at the Parkway Commons Kroger bakery in Franklin.

Warf is an award-winning Kroger baker. She is tops in bread sales in the company’s division that stretches from Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky and into middle Tennessee. The assistant store manager, Jocelyn Curry, says Warf is affectionately known at the Queen of Bread and that, “She’s like sunshine on a cloudy day.”

Warf ’s path to Kroger leads through Goodwill’s Career Solutions Center in Franklin. With the help of career counselor, Diane Wilson, Warf was able to land her first steady job in the U.S. “I was a guidance counselor and worked in community development in my home town in the Philippines,” says Warf. “I have my college degree but that didn’t matter once I moved to this country in 2006 to be with my husband.”

“Faith already had computer skills when she came to me looking for help finding a job,” says Wilson. “She took part in the job readiness classes and I knew there was an opening at Kroger and suggested she apply.” It was a good suggestion. Warf was hired and then was named Goodwill’s 2010 Graduate of the Year for the Franklin Career Solutions center.

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Once Warf started her job at Kroger, it took less than six months for her to earn the reputation for being a bakery leader. Her secret to success? “I go to the customers with the bread. I don’t usually wait for them to come to me behind the counter. I push a cart around the store and once the customers smell the bread, they stop me and take a loaf.” Warf sells as many as 40 loaves of bread on an average day.

The interesting twist to this story is that Warf doesn’t care much for bread! “I’m from the Philippines and we eat rice with every meal. Bread is just a snack for me. But when I do eat bread, my favorite is our white French loaf.”

sounding board The

reflections of a

Board

member

I first joined the Board of Directors of Goodwill Industries of Middle Tennessee in the mid-1990s after being invited for a visit to the Ninth Avenue offices by long-time board member Bill Cammack, who has since retired from the Board. As soon as I toured Goodwill’s facilities, and met David Lifsey, I was certain that this was an organization with which I wanted to be involved. I was especially impressed that a not-for-profit could support itself, and at the same time train hundreds of clients to be productive members of the workplace, all with donated goods that might otherwise end up in the trash. I remain just as impressed with Goodwill’s self-supporting business model today.

John W. Stone, III 2010 Board Chairman

My initial incentive in volunteering for the Goodwill board was my belief that, as a business attorney, I had something to offer to Goodwill. However, I would never have predicted how much Goodwill had to offer to me. During my years on the board, I have made many close friends at Goodwill—both fellow board members and Goodwill employees. But the greatest gift that Goodwill has given to me has been the opportunity to witness the countless lives that this organization has impacted and, in many cases, literally saved.

There have been times when I have arrived at Goodwill’s corporate office in Nashville for a board meeting feeling frustrated about some issue at work, the performance of the stock market or a current political development. Then, during the course of the meeting, the board would be treated to a testimonial from a Goodwill client who had turned his or her life around as a result of their job through Goodwill. Suddenly, my spirits would be lifted, and I would leave the meeting with a newfound optimism about the state of the world.

What more could one ask for?

As my tenure as Chairman of the Goodwill Board of Directors draws to an end, I want to thank everyone at Goodwill for giving me the opportunity to watch the organization and the people it serves grow and prosper during the past 15 years. It turns out that you have done much more for me than I could ever do for you.

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Goodwill Industries of Middle Tennessee, Inc. | 1015 Herman St. | Nashville | TN | 37208 Non-Profit Org. U.S. Postage

PAID

Nashville, TN Permit No. 2009

2011 Goodwill Board of Directors

Officers

Directors

Chairman:

J. B. Baker President and CEO Volunteer Express, Inc.

Kevin P. McDermott Partner KPMG LLP

Fred T. McLaughlin, Chair Branch Manager, Sr. VP Investments Robert W. Baird & Co. Inc.

J. Mike Bishop Asst. Vice President Pharmacy Services Health Trust Purchasing Group

Jenny W. Newman Director of Development Nashville State Community College Foundation

Robert B. Kennedy Senior Account Executive Neace Lukens Insurance

Caroline G. Blackwell Director of Multicultural Affairs University School of Nashville

Ty Osman President Solomon Builders

Barry A. Callender Vice President, Client Solutions Global Novations

John W. Stone, III Partner White & Reasor, PLC

E. Steele Clayton, IV Partner Bass, Berry & Sims, PLC

Thomas S. Stumb President Nashville Bank & Trust

Robert W. Duthie Founder Duthie Associates, Inc.

Kathryn I. Thompson Founder/Director of Research Thompson Research Group

John C. Greer Vice President TennComm, LLC

John C. Tishler Chairman Waller Lansden Dortch & Davis, PLLC

Robert McNeilly, III President and CEO SunTrust Bank

Vice Chairman:

Donna B. Yurdin Owner Credo Management Consulting

Secretary:

Christopher S. Dunn Attorney Waller Lansden Dortch & Davis, PLLC

Treasurer:

Philip G. Hull Senior Consultant VACO Resources

Legal Counsel:

Waller Lansden Dortch & Davis, PLLC Attorneys

David B. Lifsey President and CEO Goodwill Industries of Middle Tennessee, Inc. Tammy B. Glass Vice President – Finance Goodwill Industries of Middle Tennessee, Inc. Betty J. Johnson Vice President - Employment and Training Services Goodwill Industries of Middle Tennessee, Inc.

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Jeffrey A. Hoffman Richelieu America, Ltd. Philip G. Hull Senior Consultant VACO Resources Decosta E. Jenkins President and CEO Nashville Electric Service

R. Craig Laine Senior Vice President giveit2goodwill.org CB Richard Ellis

Jan. - March 2011

Trustees

John Van Mol Chairman and CEO Dye, Van Mol and Lawrence

James L. Knight President (Retired) Check Printers, Inc.