Dine out for Goodwill!

Many of us are always so glad to see Friday roll around. But then, on Friday night, we end up not doing much of anything – we just veg out on the couch. Too often, that’s the case in my house.

There are two weeks coming up, though, where you will want to plan to save some energy to make it out on Friday night. It’s all part of Cuisine for a Cause.

First, if you dine at Opus One on Friday or Saturday, February 22nd and 23rd, 25% of your guest check goes to Goodwill.

Then, on April 25th, for only $100 a ticket, you can have a really great evening out. It’s a big event benefiting 10 charities that includes fine wines, hors d'oeuvres and lots of great company. But the best part is that for the tickets that Goodwill sells, Goodwill gets $80 on each of those $100 tickets sold. That’s a great return, don’t you think?

You can also view our Cuisine for a Cause promo in the video below, and to purchase tickets to this wonderful event call: 313.964.3900 ext.302

We hope to see you far away from your couch and supporting Goodwill.

A New Direction…Opportunities for Today & Tomorrow

As we all recognize Detroit is the city proudly known for motion and music-the Motor City and Motown…..and as GM turns 100 years old in 2008 we are reminded once again how important manufacturing and automobiles have been to our city’s and region’s success over the years. But we all know that has been changing and we need to retool ourselves for the opportunities of today and tomorrow. Just look at all the enhancements at our 3 casinos. Based on the research that Goodwill funded several years ago the jobs of today and tomorrow in this region are in administrative/clerical, healthcare, information technology, and hospitality/retail. Goodwill is collaborating with the City of Detroit and Wayne Community College to train people for the hospitality and retail business. It is important for us to work jointly with these and other groups to prepare all that want to experience the “power of work” with the tools and preparation for jobs of today and tomorrow.

Focus on the Economy, Creating Jobs

Well, this week, the Presidential races changed quite a bit for both Democrats and Republicans, as the field narrowed down to two candidates per party.

Now, it’s easier to focus on what each of the candidates are saying. For those of who are in the job creation business, now is the time to see what each of them have to say about how the U.S. economy can be improved and how we keep creating good jobs for our citizens.

Goodwill Industries of Greater Detroit excels creating opportunities within our own organization for good jobs or with our partners in the corporate community. Some of those corporate business relationships span many years.

For example, our partnership with DTE has been successful for more than 60 years and with Ford for more than 80 years.

A relationship you might not expect is ours with Downtown Detroit Partnership and the Clean Downtown partnership where Goodwill had and has more than100 employees and trainees working to keep Downtown Detroit clean and ready visitors at all times. The next time you are Downtown look for the Clean Downtown folks and know that many of them are getting a great chance to work through Goodwill - earning a first paycheck, getting a bank account for the first time and for many of them, reconnecting with their families.

That is what the power of work does for a person and that is what Goodwill is all about.

Unemployment: Numbers and Solutions

The State of Michigan’s unemployment rate is now at 7.6%. That was the lead sentence, more or less, in several recent news stories. But, the last line in one of the stories was most startling:

“The state’s labor force declined by 40,000 in 2007.”

Think of it this way, it’s like the entire city of Lincoln Park being out of a job.

Painful? Yes. Devastating? It doesn’t have to be.

There are actually thousands of job openings across the region and across the state. We just have to train the thousands of motivated people who want those jobs so they are qualified to fill them. That’s where Goodwill comes in.

We are focusing new efforts to train the future health care, customer service, restaurant and retail workers who will be qualified to fill the current and future job openings. We won’t be satisfied until everybody who wants a job gets a job. Until then, we are doing our part to bring down that unemployment number.

Goodwill Detroit appears on NBC Nightly News

One thing about Goodwill Industries of Greater Detroit you can say for sure… we are flexible. We are constantly preparing our clients to face a fast-changing world. But, we are also seizing opportunities at each turn.

On Monday, January 14, on the eve of the Michigan Primary, our contacts at Local-4 Detroit suggested that NBC Nightly News call us. They were in town covering the election and were interested in seeing an organization, or talking to an individual, that is trying to overcome the employment challenges in Michigan. We were happy share one of Goodwill’s many powerful stories.

Our team worked together and we were successful in that one of our trainees quickly said “yes” to being interviewed for national TV. Because of ability to put this together so quickly, we were part of the lead story by Correspondent Ron Allen on Monday’s nightly newscast, telling our story to an estimated 9.7 million viewers!

Click on the play button below to watch the story.