Goodwill Central Coast Board Members, Staff Reflect On Legacy Of Service And Opportunity With Reopening of Renovated Capitola Store on Aug. 22 With the grand reopening of the Capitola Goodwill store on Aug. 22 fast approaching, board members and staff instrumental in implementing Goodwill’s strategy in achieving its goals reflect on the mission of the organization. Capitola, CA, August 14, 2018 — With the grand reopening of the Capitola Goodwill store on Aug. 22
fast approaching, board members and staff instrumental in implementing Goodwill’s strategy in achieving its goals reflect on the mission of the organization. Walt Henning and Charles Leigh-Wood are outgoing board members who played key roles in the development of Goodwill’s strategy, while staff members Jessica Hogue and Taylor Strang are production supervisor and assistant manager, respectively, at the Capitola store. Henning, who is completing his service on the Board at the end of the year, says that the renovations of the Capitola and downtown Santa Cruz stores means that all four stores in Santa Cruz County have been renovated in the last two years. “Our employees have never had better, safer working conditions than they do right now,” said Henning. Leigh-Wood says that even though Goodwill moved their headquarters to Salinas a year ago, they remain committed to Santa Cruz County and have expanded their workforce development partnership with the County of Santa Cruz. In the last year, Goodwill has provided work experience training hundreds of individuals referred by the county. Both Henning and Leigh-Wood emphasize that Goodwill Central Coast is a community-based nonprofit organization with a charitable mission and both take pride in the organization's good work. Hogue started with Goodwill six years ago as a temporary employee helping with Halloween and now manages 12 employees in a production space that has tripled due to the renovations. “I’m now a leader within Goodwill and have a career rather than just a job.” “I started in 2014 as a participant in Goodwill’s work experience program. Now I’m the assistant manager for our biggest store,” says Taylor, who says that she has benefitted from Goodwill expansion. “The expansion of our Capitola store has made it possible to accept, process and sell more donations which opens up more jobs for our local community. Not only has it created a better work environment for employees but a more organized shopping experience for our customers.”