An Introduction to Junior Ambassadors of Goodwill Welcome to the Junior Ambassadors of Goodwill Virtual Community Service initiative (J.A.G. Virtual). Thank you for your interest in volunteering with Goodwill Industries-Suncoast. As a J.A.G. Virtual volunteer, you will gain knowledge of Goodwill-Suncoast’s daily operations and its efforts to fulfill the mission to transform lives through lifelong learning and the power of work. Goodwill-Suncoast accomplishes this mission through employment services, training programs, and affordable housing. The sale of donated and new goods at Goodwill stores enables the agency to offer a variety of employment and training services, promote self-sufficiency, and contribute to community conservation through recycling. Inaugurated in the summer of 2016, the Junior Ambassadors of Goodwill (J.A.G.) program has grown from a weeklong in-person summer program in three counties to include a once-a-month J.A.G. Weekend program and an academically focused J.A.G. Retail program with individual school systems. J.A.G. Cares is a collaboration of activities that students participate in with the J.A.G. Program that gives back to our local community. Goodwill’s J.A.G. programs collaborate with Feeding Tampa Bay, Keep Pinellas Beautiful and Goodwill’s BookWorks program and five affordable housing communities. Students that participate with these programs collect canned foods, do environmental trash pickup, perform recycling activities, collect children’s books to be distributed within the community, and create greeting cards for residents of Goodwill’s apartment communities who are seniors or have disabilities. Goodwill-Suncoast is excited to add this virtual, off-site, volunteer opportunity for the convenience of the students residing in the Goodwill-Suncoast 10-county service area. Feel free to share this information with friends and encourage them to sign up with you. A Half Century of Helping People Founded in October 1954 in downtown St. Petersburg, Goodwill-Suncoast immediately began work assisting a handful of people with disabilities to gain work skills and paychecks. Now Goodwill-Suncoast helps thousands of people overcome a variety of barriers through our employment programs, five subsidized apartment buildings, and rehabilitative community corrections facilities. To support these services, Goodwill-Suncoast operates 20 retail stores and one outlet store. Over 86% of Goodwill-Suncoast’s operating budget is devoted to our programs and services. During an average year, we serve more than 60,000 people and place more than 3,000 people in jobs in the community. Goodwill-Suncoast is headquartered in St. Petersburg and provides services to people in 10 counties – Pinellas, Pasco, Hillsborough, Polk, Hernando, Marion, Citrus, Sumter, Levy, and Highlands counties.
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