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Painting Brings Big Bucks Dress for less. Shop at Goodwill for school uniforms.

+plus Goodwill President Addresses Economy

Preparing for New Building

Our business is changing lives.

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Ambassador | Winter 2009

Amending an Amendment

J. B. Baker President & CEO Volunteer Express, Inc. Rita Bennett Volunteer J. Mike Bishop Asst, Vice President Pharmacy Services Health Trust Purchasing Group William H. Cammack, Trustee Chairman Equitable Trust Company

David Condra Chairman Dalcon Enterprises

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Vice Chairman:

Tammy Glass, Vice President of Finance Goodwill Industries of Middle Tennessee, Inc.

Robert McNeilly, III, President and CEO SunTrust Bank

Secretary:

Donna B. Yurdin, Owner Credo Management Consulting

Betty Johnson, Vice President of Employment Services Goodwill Industries of Middle Tennessee, Inc.

Ambassador INSIDE

Career Scope.................................................p.4 It’s a Wrap.....................................................p.5 Career Solutions is Moving......................p.10

Treasurer:

Kathryn S. Gibson, Accounting Manager Vanderbilt University Medical Center Department of Finance

New Mission Statement...........................p.12

cover story

Legal Counsel:

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

Gary W. Cordell Consultant Robert W. Duthie Founder Duthie Associates, Inc. Deborah Y. Faulkner Inspector General State of Tennessee TennCare John C. Greer Vice President TennComm, LLC L. Hall Hardaway, Jr. Chairman (Retired) The Hardaway Group Jeffrey A. Hoffman Richelieu America, Ltd. Decosta Jenkins President & CEO Nashville Electric Service

Robert B. Kennedy Vice President First Horizon Insurance Group, Inc.

John Tishler Chairman Waller Lansden Dortch & Davis, LLP

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

George Van Allen President Nashville State Community College

R. Craig Laine Rinaldo Group, L.P. Kevin McDermott Partner KPMG LLP Fred T. McLaughlin, Trustee Branch Manager, Sr. VP Investments Robert W. Baird & Co., Inc. Thomas S. Stumb President Nashville Bank & Trust

A watercolor painting found in a bin brings in over $8,000 from an online auction and brings us international media attention.

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Awards........................................................p.12 President’s Message...................................p.13 Idalba Tabares............................................p.14 New Year, New Law..................................p.15

moving up p.10 Plans for the future of Career Solutions includes moving soon.

President & CEO - David Lifsey Senior Director of Marketing & Community Relations - Karl Houston Writer & Editor - Suzanne Kay-Pittman Graphic Designer & Photographer - Scott Bryant Contributors - Matt Gloster, David Lifsey, Parker Thomas 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 location, 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.

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Ambassador | Winter 2009

Ambassador | Winter 2009

Steele Clayton Partner Bass, Berry & Sims, PLC

Other Officers:

David Lifsey, President Goodwill Industries of Middle Tennessee, Inc.

Board of Dir ectors

Board O ff icer s

Chairman:

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

Career Scope

It’s a Wrap

Career Counselors have a new tool to help clients ease into the right job.

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inding work in these tough economic times has many job hunters saying, “I’ll take any job as long as I can get it now.” This may seem like a positive attitude and in the client’s best interest, but the reality is that many times taking any job creates more problems than it solves.

Career counselors often find that clients may be interested in a job but the reality is they have no real skills for that particular career path.

The opposite is also true. Some people have an aptitude and may be headed down a certain career path but have no real interest in that career.

Career Scope includes a series of questions that clients answer to determine if they like, dislike or are unfamiliar with a variety of jobs and job skills. There are more than 140 questions in random order and the computer-based program identifies interest patterns.

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Angie Griffin, Career Counselor in Clarksville, Tenn. raves about this exciting new tool. “Goodwill really keeps us up-to-date. We’re always doing something new and innovative and Career Scope is especially good for our clients because it also helps them keep up with technology.”

some good long-term goals for our clients,” says Angie.

As an added bonus, Career Scope partnered with OccuBrowse+ to create a program that enables Career Scope to search the Internet for available jobs.

The combination of good client data and a search engine may just shorten the time it takes to pair a client with a job that fits his or her skills.

One of the interesting outcomes that career counselors have noticed with Career Scope is that clients often discover they have an untapped ability for a job that they may never have considered.

“While Career Scope and OccuBrowse+ are bonus tools for career counselors and their clients,” says Matt Gloster, senior director of Career Solutions.

“They should not be thought of as a job counselor-in-a-box. Counselors are an indispensable part of the equation because of their depth of experience and contacts with local businesses and potential employers.”

“Sometimes individuals do not realize they have an interest or aptitude in certain job related fields.

Some may require added training or further education but if their interest is piqued this can lead to

Career Scope and OccuBrowse+ do provide the counselor with hard facts and may present choices for the job seeker in a fast and concise manner. And that means fulfilling Goodwill’s mission.

Retail

Donations

Career Solutions

The headlines from David Jenkins’ e-mail blasts in late December said it all for retail.

“CONGRATULATIONS!” Jenkins, senior director of retail, happily reported that first Cookeville and then Rivergate topped the $2 million sales mark for the first time in our Goodwill’s 51-year history. Rivergate made it interesting and did not cross its sales milestone until 1:15 p.m. on New Year’s Eve!

The news from donations is mixed. In 2008 we served an average of 3,113 donors each day.

Once the year ended, 1,130,179 donors had given to our Goodwill in 2008, which is almost 11 percent more than in 2007.

Career Solutions served a record breaking 10,015 clients in 2008, up from 7,480 clients served the previous year. Betty Johnson, vice president for employment services says, “If we break down the numbers (in 2008), we could say that each week we served 192 new people, we helped 51 people become employed, and 38 of them met the 90-day milestone of keeping their job.”

“2008 started out slow for retail, but finished strong. Retail sales were actually down through March of last year, but the last nine months showed an increase of six percent,” says Jenkins. Lebanon, Murfreesboro, Hendersonville and Fayetteville were just a few of the 22 stores in our Goodwill that surpassed $1 million in sales for the year.

Customer surveys and comments told us that the downturn in the economy might have driven new customers to our stores as they searched for great products at bargain prices. “It is an exciting challenge that faces us every day.

If donations remain strong, I see our teams rising to and exceeding the goals we have set for them,” said Jenkins.

While the number of donors was up, the trend towards the end of 2008, when the economy weakened, meant less volume from each donor. Donors told us they were cutting back on purchases to save money and were not replacing clothing and other household items so they had less to donate.

“In spite of the economy,” Karl Houston, the director of donations says, “Goodwill achieved its best donation year ever and we are grateful for the continued support we receive from the community.”

It was a busy year for our Special Projects team. Here are the highlights: • Pick-ups – up 17.7 percent • Neighborhood Donation Drives – 64 in 2008 versus 51 in 2007 • Estate Pick-up Program – 436 in 2008, which is a decrease from the previous year.

• Vehicle Donation ProgramDonors generously gave Goodwill 21 vehicles in 2008.

“I anticipate that 2009 will bring more unemployed candidates to our 15 career centers, and our counselors and candidates will have to work harder to locate jobs and secure employment,” says Johnson.

2008 Career Solutions Final Tally: Clients Served – 10,015 Clients Getting Jobs – 2,680 (an increase of 361 over 2007) Clients Who Remained Employed 90 Days – 1,979 (an increase of 500 over 2007)

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Ambassador | Winter 2009 Ambassador | Summer2008

Ambassador | Winter 2009

To resolve both issues, Goodwill’s career counselors are now using Career Scope, a software program that helps clients land a job for which they are best suited.

Career Scopes also identifies aptitudes in 12 general work areas through a series of timed exercises. The entire program takes clients about one hour to complete and yields robust information that a counselor can then review with the job seeker.

Record numbers in 2008 and new concerns for 2009 are addressed.

The stars must have been in alignment the day Susan McCullen, manager of shopgoodwill.com, was walking through the Story Building at Goodwill Industries of Middle Tennessee in Nashville. She was on the hunt for items to post on shopgoodwill.com – an online sales site for 75 Goodwills around the country much like eBay – when she noticed the corner of a gold frame and aged mat a bit buried in a wire bin. When she pulled the framed artwork out of the bin, she said she had a ‘gut feeling’ it was an original watercolor.

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Ambassador | Winter 2009

Ambassador | Winter 2009

FeluccaFelucca Capri Capri

find in a donation bin. The media caught on as fast as the bidding started to rise. All area television stations covered the story. The Tennessean newspaper carried the story and the AP, CNN, MSNBC, AOL, NPR and most national media outlets picked up this feel-good story with a bit of mystery.

Everyone was watching as the bidding drove up the price.

The handwritten letter from the artist, Ellsworth Woodward, details his painting. “One of the very noteworthy things about the Bay at Naples is the color of the water. No one is prepared for the incredible clearness and the blue and green. It is so beautiful that it makes one ache.” His watercolor, painted more than 100 years ago, still reflects the gem-like colors of the water he saw while visiting Capri, Italy.

By the time the bidding war ended at 9:30 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 25, the “Felucca Capri” had sold for $8101.00.

After consulting with area galleries, and being told that Woodward’s work had recently sold for between $500.00 and $3,000.00, Susan posted the “Felucca Capri” on shopgoodwill.com for $500.00 with a 10-day selling window.

The bidding was quiet at first.

In the first week the price jumped to about $1,500.00.

But by Thursday afternoon, Jan. 22, the price was starting to inch up and closed that day near $3,000.00.

It was then that we (Goodwill) decided it was time to go public with the story of a great

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With all the publicity, we still had unanswered questions.

The donor had not yet revealed himself and who was the buyer? The first question was answered the day after the sale when a quiet real estate investor from Nashville called Goodwill to say he had made the donation.

Speed Thomas and his brother and sister had divided their parents’ belongings after their mom and dad died about ten years ago. Speed kept the painting in a storage facility and had slowly been going through items to donate to Goodwill.

Speed said the painting was not to his taste and took it to the Hillsboro High donation site early in January. It wasn’t until he read about the painting and the bidding that he realized it had been his.

Was there donor regret? “Yes, for a while,” said Speed. But he said that passed and he was happy that the painting went for so much money and that it would be used to further Goodwill’s services. Then he added, “My mother would be very happy with what has happened.” She was also a watercolorist.

Speed and his siblings still aren’t sure how the painting came to be in their family.

But he said some of the pieces are starting to come together.

Ellsworth Woodward and his older brother William Woodward moved to New Orleans in the late 1800s and were influential in the development of art programs at Tulane and Newcomb College. Speed’s maternal grandfather was from New Orleans and he feels that may be the connection.

Next on the list is learning the identity of the buyer. All the media attention may have him hunkering down. He has seven days after the sale is final to pay for the painting. Stay tuned for the next piece of the story!

We received this e-mail from Parker Thomas, Speed’s brother, who lives in Oakland, CA. It is reprinted with his permission.

Suzanne I’m Speed’s brother and I’ve cc’d our sister. As Speed said, we have long supported Goodwill’s mission through donations. I believe when we emptied Mom and Dad’s house, some 20 boxes of books and numerous boxes of other usable items went to Goodwill.

I’m assuming since none of that stuff made the papers that it wasn’t so valuable. In any case, we are very happy that the money goes to such a good cause.

Speed actually donated the painting, but all of us passed on keeping it or hanging it in our respective homes. Now we are trying to figure out where it came from. Our maternal grandfather had some family in New Orleans, which is a clue.

We are also having a good chuckle at our own expense – this will no doubt enter the family lore and be told for many years to come. Like all the other stories, I’m sure that this one will get exaggerated to the point at which the painting is worth hundreds of thousands.

What is fun also is that we aren’t the only ones having a good laugh. Ours is a family where it is hard to know one of us without knowing the others. Since Speed came forward, I’ve heard from quite a few people I grew up with in Nashville who are now scattered all over the country. With such widespread coverage, it doesn’t take much to come across the story. It has been fun to reconnect with old friends and share amusement. And Speed got to be on TV – that was fun to watch.

We are happy the proceeds help you fulfill your mission.

Sincerely, Parker Thomas Brother of Speed and Ellen Thomas

Donor, Speed Thomas, happily speaks to the media about his donation.

The following is the text of the letter found on the back of the painting:

After speaking with Parker, he wanted me to add that he believes his parents would be thrilled with the way this has turned out and very happy that Goodwill is benefiting from the donation.

The “Felucca” leaves by tomorrows express. Thank you for your consistent approval of that watercolor. This particular felucca happens to be discharging charcoal at the port of Capri called Grande Marina. In the distance are the hills of Sorrento. One of the very noteworthy things about the Bay at Naples is the color of the water. No one is prepared for the incredible clearness and the blue and green. It is so beautiful that it makes one ache. I am glad to know that some one has this picture who cares for it. Personally I have always had a fancy for it. By the way it was accepted and hung at the Pan American exposition at San Francisco in 1915. Although I say it and shouldn’t, this picture is good. I shall always be proud of it and I congratulate you on acquiring it. The original price at the San Francisco Fair was $75.00.

Sincerely and affectionately, Ellsworth Woodward

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Ambassador | Winter 2009

Ambassador | Winter 2009

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usan took the painting to her desk to begin research. The watercolor was signed E. Woodward 1907 with the word “Capri” on the lower left side of the piece. Then she turned the frame over and found another jewel; an envelope containing a letter was attached to the back of the painting.

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oxes are being packed, phone and IT lines are being configured and moving trucks have been reserved. The relocation of the Outlet Store and Career Solutions at Ninth and Herman has been finalized. Moving our store and employees will be like a well-orchestrated dance involving all of Goodwill’s departments.

p Up U

Career Solutions building in Nashville to be demolished in the Spring.

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The plans for construction on the new $5.25 million building were on hold until the relocation was hammered out.

The upcoming year will present some challenges because clients have worked with our staff at Ninth and Herman for almost 50 years. Betty Johnson, the vice president of employment services, says, “We are going to improve and enhance our communications with clients and stakeholders to ensure a smooth transition.” She went on to say, “We look forward to serving as many or more clients in 2009 as we did in 2008.”

Career Solutions staff will be spread throughout the Nashville area during construction and will begin

Development Director for Career Solutions, Debbie Grant and Barbara Stout, a certified vocational trainer, will relocate to the Story Building at 1000 Herman St. A second open office in the Story Building will become a training room. The summer program staff, led by Leslie Weed, will move into 1033 Herman Street.

To help provide the best service to our clients during construction, Goodwill has rented office space at 919 Eighth Avenue South. This 4,800 square foot building will house Matt Gloster, the senior director of Career Solutions, the three Career Solutions counselors and the intake staff.

The three Career Solutions instructors will be moving to Berry Road.

The Outlet Store, a long-time fixture at Ninth and Herman, will shut down for good at that site on Saturday, March 21. The grand re-opening is planned just two days later on Monday, March 23, at 780 Berry Road, in what was once our Commercial Services space.

in the back of the Berry Road store.

The new outlet store will be 12,500 square feet, three thousand square feet larger than the store at Ninth and Herman.

Jenkins says, “The new store will be the first to have an upgraded polished concrete floor. The real plus will be that most product will come out on rolling tables. The current plan is to rotate out every table every two hours.”

The other big news is the Outlet Store will operate the same hours as our other retail stores, which means it will be open on Sundays.

Salvage and Recycling Operations will also move to the Berry Road site.

Mary Stockett, continuous improvement manager, says this will be a permanent move for the 16 members of her group including dock and baling specialists. She says, “Our salvage operation is looking forward to moving into a facility that will give us more opportunity to expand recycling efforts.”

Demolition at Ninth and Herman is planned for the first of April with construction to start once the dust clears.

Construction of the new Career Solutions building is expected to be completed by early 2010.

Senior Director of Retail, David Jenkins, is managing the permanent relocation, which is

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Ambassador | Winter 2009

Ambassador | Winter 2009

g n i v o Moving M on on

IT Director, Ed O’Kelley, is working closely with Retail, Career Solutions, Loss Prevention and Production to ensure there are no technical glitches as everyone is relocated until the new Career Solutions Building is finished early next year.

moving in February. Betty and some of her group including Shemika Rucker, the manager of transitional services, and Jonathan Kelsey, who is a case manager, will move down the street to 1015 Herman.

Awards

Goodwill President Looks Ahead

Letter to employees presents realities of the business and economic climate.

Goodwill’s 2009 Family Calendar wins advertising award.

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he 2009 Goodwill Family Calendar, filled with 12 evocative black and white photographs of our employees, has been recognized with an Addy Award.

This is the first time our Goodwill has won an Addy for work designed entirely in-house. The Addy is the highest honor awarded by the American Advertising Federation (AAF) and recognizes “all forms of advertising from media of all types, creative by all sizes and entrants of all levels from anywhere in the world,” as noted on the AAF Web site.

has been a changing force in their lives. “I thought it would be a great idea to feature people who might not have a disability but are none the less affected

by Goodwill each day,” says Bryant.

Creative Services Manager, Scott Bryant, created the concept for this year’s calendar and worked closely with photographer Dana Thomas. “I wanted it to be bold, demanding attention, yet simple. I think it is all of these,” says Bryant. “The solid black cover with the “fill in the blank” text causes the reader to react immediately. What word fills in the blank?”

The Nashville AAF will host an awards presentation on Tuesday, Feb. 24 at the Limelight Restaurant.

The employees each wore clothing pulled from one of our stores and had professional help with their hair and makeup, another first for Goodwill.

The reason, says Bryant, “I wanted the calendar to look more professional while still maintaining that Goodwill persona.”

Goodwill’s advertising agency, Dye, Van Mol & Lawrence, also won an Addy for a television commercial featuring Miss Curry Christian. In the spot Miss Curry is seen fishing and tells the audience that thanks to her job at Goodwill, she “has a reason to stand tall.”

Goodwill is

singing at wo rk

York is a man of few words but thos e he chooses to share are sure to inspire a smil e. Let’s say things get a little quiet in the Goo dwill warehouse sorting clothes, well, York is ther e to liven it up with his favorite exclamation – “Hu bba, hubba!”

See. He made you smil liable to break into e, didn’t he? York is also a song while he wor ks. His favorite is his very own trademark rend of a Chuck Berr ition y classic “I Foun d My Thrill on Blueberr y Hill.”

Thanks to good-na tured York, we don’t have to leav e wor k to find our thrill.

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Ambassador | Winter 2009

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“We changed our mission statement to make it more nearly reflect what our Goodwill does today,” says David Lifsey, president and CEO.

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Our Career Solutions staff and programs served over 10,000 people last year, helping 2,680 gain employment with almost 2,000 keeping their jobs beyond 90 days.

More than 1.1 million people made donations through our various stores and donation sites, ten percent higher than 2007.

Sales in our stores exceeded $37.5 million, a ten percent increase over 2007.

Our Cookeville and Rivergate stores exceeded $2 million in sales, ranking them among the elite of all Goodwill stores in the world.

Near the end of the year, we had 1,400 employees in our Goodwill, 1,217 were mission related and our payroll total was $856,774 each pay period.

There are other accomplishments that contributed to our success for the year, and each accomplishment reflects the good and hard work from each of you.

“The new statement captures the essential elements of what we do and the importance of each – donated goods, employment and the people we are privileged to serve.”

Please remember the mission statement as you conduct business and represent the company in the community. It should be your first consideration when evaluating opportunities and strategies that will best serve Goodwill.

While looking at past accomplishments is important, those accomplishments only set the standard for our efforts this year. We can be encouraged by our past success since it demonstrates that we are on sound footing for 2009 and the years to come. By all indications, this year will be challenging for each of us and for our Goodwill. But I feel confident.

We are very fortunate that fuel costs have declined. We should all consider other ways to continue cutting costs.

Utilities are a large expense for us. Turn off lights when you’re not in your office and lower thermostats in stores and in offices. These simple acts can make a significant difference in our monthly expenses.

Our customers and donors are gold to us. There are assuredly new visitors to our stores as word continues to spread of our great deals and pleasant stores, and we must make sure that every visit to one of our stores is a wonderful experience for the shopper. The same applies to our donors; each one should leave a donation site feeling they have just done the best thing they will do all day, and that we truly value their support. Neither shoppers nor donors HAVE to come to us, and we need to make sure they know we appreciate and need their support.

Even more important is that we must value each other and our jobs because our growth as a company depends on how well we work together.

We are taking steps to ensure we will be able to continue providing needed services to those who depend on Goodwill for opportunities. While the times are uncertain, I know this will be a good year for us. I can think of no other group of people with whom I’d rather face our challenges, or share our achievements.

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Ambassador | Winter 2009

We sell donated goods to provide employment and training opportunities for people who have disabilities and others who have trouble finding and keeping jobs.

Our Goodwill had an outstanding year in 2008. Consider these examples:

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New Mission Statement

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s 2008 wound down, the headlines about our national economy were not encouraging. Now that the holidays are over and we are a few weeks into the new year, I want to take a moment to look back at how we fared during the turbulent economic times and look ahead as we move into 2009.

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The 2009 calendar features employees both with and without disabilities. Their stories reflect their passion for their jobs and the organization. For Scott, and many of those featured in the calendar, working with the diverse population at Goodwill

ou may notice that our Goodwill has a new mission statement which reads;

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Woman of Influence Goodwill’s Idalba Tabares is awarded in the Community Supporter category by the Nashville Business Journal.

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speak for themselves. In the last two years she has placed 493 clients in jobs, most of them outside of Goodwill. Of the clients she has placed, 93 percent remained on the job 90 days or more.

She has a job that carries respect, is proud that her daughter would like to one day be an attorney, and has been named one of the Nashville Business Journal’s Women of Influence in the Community Supporter category. Idalba was chosen because of her tireless efforts to help her clients, many of whom are immigrants.

Idalba’s success is due in large part to her networking with employers who are willing to hire immigrants. Although she has built a strong network, her work is not an easy task given the harsh realities of today’s financial gloom. “Sometimes it’s sad when I can’t find someone a job. But my biggest challenge is to take advantage of every job that comes my way and try to put every client in a job,” says Idalba.

When she first started working with Goodwill three years ago, most of Idalba’s clients came from Nashville’s Hispanic community. Today, she is also working with the area’s growing Somali and Sudanese population.

It is not enough that Idalba finds her clients jobs, she also wants them to thrive. Her success is apparent because many of the employees she has placed return to her as long as a year later hoping to find even more challenging work.

As a relatively new American, Idalba understands and empathizes with the immigrants she works with daily. “In my country there are many difficulties and no institutions like Goodwill to help people.”

Helping people is what Idalba does best and the numbers

As for her own job, Idalba says it is what she has been praying for all her life. “I am very happy. I am satisfied and proud of what I’m doing. I wake up every morning and am happy to come in to work. Even on the bad days.”

A luncheon to honor Idalba, and all the Women of Influence, was hosted by the Nashville Business Journal on Friday, Feb. 6, at the Renaissance Hotel in Nashville. The honor from the Nashville Business Journal is the second award Idalba has received recently. In October, she was named Goodwill’s Career Solutions Employee of the Year.

Joining Idalba in the Community Supporter category is Deborah Varallo of Varallo Public Relations.

Goodwill Career Solutions is working with businesses to comply with new disability law.

How will the ADAAA affect area businesses?

Debbie’s services include a robust menu of offerings: • Overview of new disability categories • Recognizing and identifying when an employee makes a disability statement and the implication of the ADAAA • Job description reviews and suggestions for updates • Policy and procedure reviews • Tools to help managers navigate claims received • Reasonable accommodations employers may provide • Technical assistance in identifying assistive technology and vendors If your place of business needs help with the implementation of the ADAAA, Debbie is readily available. She can be contacted at: Debbie Grant, C.R.C., CCM 615-346-1237 Debbie.Grant@givegw.org

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rea businesses are depending on Goodwill Industries of Middle Tennessee and Debbie Grant to guide them through mandated changes to the Americans with Disabilities Act. Debbie is the development director for Career Solutions and has been monitoring the new Americans with Disabilities Act Amendment Act (ADAAA), which went into effect January 1, 2009.

Debbie consults with employers to develop a plan of action in implementing the new law and provides customized tools needed to effectively manage and identify workplace accessibility. She has been marketing this new consulting service to businesses throughout middle and west Tennessee via contact with businesses and through extensive media coverage.

The ADAAA overturns several Supreme Court decisions

that had made it difficult for workers with disabilities to qualify for protection under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The new ADAAA will expand the definition of a person with a disability and will be more inclusive.

This change means many businesses will likely have to modify company policies and practices to be in compliance.

The focus of the ADAAA emphasizes that employers must proactively develop reasonable accommodation(s).

It also states they must demonstrate good faith effort(s) in conducting interactive discussions with the employee(s) in identifying reasonable accommodations, if any are necessary.

Goodwill’s specialists have more than 50 years of experience serving people with disabilities in middle and west Tennessee.

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Ambassador | Winter 2009

Ambassador | Winter 2009

dalba Tabares, a Career Solutions counselor at the Berry Road location, knows what it is like to be the new kid in town. She immigrated to the United States just 10 years ago, having grown up in Columbia. She is now living what many would call the American Dream.

Consulting Offered for New Law

Our shopgoodwill.com sold 6,692 items online in 2008 including:

Dolls – 130

Clocks – 8

Jewelry: 2,872 pieces Lamps/Lighting – 26 433 pairs of earrings Military Memorabilia – 14 347 pendants Shoes – 172 pairs 673 rings Musical Instruments - 144 Music Boxes – 22

Art Prints/Posters – 260

Books: 628 102 non-fiction books 40 fiction 80 collectible/antique books

Pottery – 51

Ambassador | Winter 2009

Goodwill Industries of Middle Tennessee, Inc. | 1015 Herman St. | Nashville | TN | 37203 Non-profit Org. U.S. Postage

PAID

Nashville, TN Permit No. 2009

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