Goodwill offerings to expand with deal

By Dan Nakaso
Advertiser Staff Writer

Seventeen-year-old Carlos Gillis paid $5 yesterday for a secondhand pair of black slacks to wear to a high-school dance, and in the process contributed to Goodwill Industries of Hawai'i's projection of $6 million in sales this year.

Missy Lovell, 18, of Wilhelmina Rise, shops at the new, larger Goodwill store at 3638 Wai'alae Avenue in Kaimuki, which was opened thanks to a partnership announced this week with the Big Brothers Big Sisters Foundation. Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser

Gillis, a Kaiser High School senior, bought the pants at Goodwill's biggest and newest 15,000-square-foot store on Wai'alae Avenue in Kaimuki to take his girlfriend to her dance last night at St. Francis School.

His purchase played a role in a new partnership announced Thursday between Goodwill Industries and Big Brothers Big Sisters of Honolulu, in which Goodwill will buy Big Brothers Big Sisters donations for an unspecified amount.

Goodwill opened its second Kaimuki store in October in anticipation of the partnership. It is the organization's fifth store on O'ahu; it has a sixth in Hilo on the Big Island.

The partnership means Goodwill will hire an additional 20 people, for a total of more than 40 employees, to handle donations that are expected to double this year because of Big Brothers Big Sisters' sophisticated telemarketing and collection operations, said Laura Robertson, president and CEO of Goodwill Industries of Hawai'i.

Last year, Goodwill collected 3.2 million pounds in donations, which translated to $3.8 million in sales. This year, through the partnership, Goodwill officials are projecting an increase to 6.2 million pounds in donations worth an estimated $6 million in sales.

The extra revenue will help cover the additional staff, lease costs and — more importantly — 6,000 clients expected to seek programs in training and employment, Robertson said. In 2001, Goodwill helped 2,200 people. Last year, it trained 4,500.

"A lot of people still haven't totally recovered from the economy and all that's happened," Robertson said. "Many families working several piecemeal jobs have lost one or two jobs. With this influx of donations and the anticipation of the increased sales, it's going to allow us to serve another close to 2,000 people."

The partnership is the second of its kind between major nonprofit agencies in Hawai'i, and the second nationally for Goodwill Industries, Robertson said. In Portland, Ore., Goodwill joined efforts with a local agency, she said.

The Hawai'i partnership also means changes for Savers thrift stores, which used to buy goods donated to Big Brothers Big Sisters to supply its for-profit stores in Kalihi; Waipahu; and Kahului, Maui.

Phil Carey, Savers district manager, declined to say how much Savers bought each year, and for how much. But there will be no change for customers, he said, because Savers officials knew about the partnership and prepared by lining up a new agreement with the National Kidney Foundation for its donations. Savers continues to have agreements with Big Brothers Big Sisters on Maui and United Cerebral Palsy, Carey said.

"We've known it was going to happen for the last five months," he said. "There will be no change in our merchandise."

But the partnership means big changes for Goodwill and its customers.

Donations to Big Brothers Big Sisters were rolling into Goodwill stores early this week, and will be turned around within 24 to 48 hours, Robertson said.

Missy Lovell, an 18-year-old Punahou School senior, has come to depend on the new Kaimuki store down the street from her house on Wilhelmina Rise.

"I come here every couple of weeks," she said, holding up a blouse. "Most of my wardrobe is from Goodwill — T-shirts, shorts, dresses. They have a real good selection."

John Noskey, a retiree from Anaheim, Calif., took a bus from his hotel in Waikiki just to visit the store, and was happy he came.

He looked over a long rack of aloha shirts selling for $8.99 and noted, "the stuff is just like new."