Goodwill Industries - Big Bend

GW Fashions opens

gcumbie — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 15:34:01 +0000

Grand Opening

GW Fashions

Monday, March 1st

10 am – 7 pm

Next to the Goodwill Store at 2729 Capital Circle NE

High end fashions, shoes, books, instruments & unique rare finds!

1/2 off all clothes (excluding pink tag items) March 1st only

11 am – 1 pm live remote from My 107.1 with food, drinks and prizes!

PC Bookstore Open

gcumbie — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 15:20:56 +0000

Now Open

Bookstore and Electronics Store

13413 Panama City Beach Pkwy

10 a.m. – 6 p.m.

Books, computers, high quality purses and more…

GIBB Assumes Control of Childcare Center

gcumbie — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 17:47:00 +0000

In February, Goodwill Industries – Big Bend assumed control of Dick Howser Child Care Center to assist them in financial and administrative needs to help keep the center from being shut down. We have pledged $150,000 to help them restructure. We will offer administrative assistance to keep the center operating and hire an executive director.

Dick Howser Child Care Center has served children ages birth to 5 years old since 1974. For many years, they have been next door to our main facility on Mabry Street. Their Early Intervention Program provides training and therapy for children with developmental disabilities including Cerebral Palsy, Spina Bifida, Down’s Syndrome, mental retardation, Muscular Dystrophy, and genetic disorders. Their Preschool Program provides preschool for peers or siblings age 6 weeks to 3 years. It is the only program of its kind in this area.

By helping these children in their early years, they will be more prepared to reach their fullest potential as productive and self-supporting adults. Maybe they won’t need our services as adults, but even if they do, they will be they will be better prepared to succeed through job placement programs.

There is also the incentive to keep the center operating so that parents can keep working. Many of these special needs children would not be accepted in other day care program, forcing a parent to stay home to care for them.

Our goal is to help these centers regain financial stability and continue helping children with special needs receive the therapy and training essential for their proper development.

GIBB collecting aid for Haiti

gcumbie — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 16:00:35 +0000

Goodwill is a collection site for donations for the Tallahassee-Haiti Medical team.

Tallahassee – Haiti Medical Team is a team of volunteer doctors, nurses and members of the community. Traveling team 1 consists of 12 volunteers and they are scheduled to depart Tuesday March 9^th for a 5 day trip.

They are not just planning for one trip, already traveling team 2 and traveling team 3 are being put in place to travel in April and May. The goal is to leave the 2^nd Tuesday of every month. The main mission of this medical team is to take casts of the amputees, bring the casts back to Tallahassee, travel the next month to deliver the prosthetics and take more casts. The team is trained and expects to face other situations.

The team leader is Dr. Woodie Smith. Dr. Woodie has made numerous trips to Dumay, Haiti, closest airport Port-au-Prince, prior to the earthquake and has many established relationships. He has arranged to take up to 46,000 lbs of supplies with his team for the March 9^th trip. After speaking to other Doctors who have visited they all said, “yes take all the medical supplies you can, but take food as well. They are starving.”

If you are interested in joining a traveling team, contact Christine DeCoteau, Coordinator at christinedecoteau@gmail.com or 904-236-8460.

You do not have to get on the plane to be on the team”

This is when Goodwill became part of the team. Goodwill Big Bend has locations throughout 22 counties and offered to be a collection site for the community to get involved and donate items in need.

NEEDED ITEMS FROM THE COMMUNITY:

(In largest bags/boxes you can find)

Rice

Beans

Oil

Water

Soap

Crutches

Next meeting for Tallahassee-Haiti Medical Team is Thursday February 18^th, Ramada Inn, 6:30 pm

Americorps Needs Volunteers

gcumbie — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 20:05:24 +0000

Goodwill Industries – Big Bend, Inc. has received an AmeriCorps grant funded through the Corporation for National and Community Service. The grant will allow us to increase the number of people we serve through GIBB Career Training Centers.

Goodwill Industries – Big Bend, Inc.’s mission is to provide job training, education and employment to people with disabilities and other barriers to employment, helping them to reach their fullest potential in supporting themselves and their families.

National Service programs are intended to strengthen communities by relying on their own citizens’ talents. Becoming an AmeriCorps member is an opportunity to make a difference in your life and in the lives of those around you. It’s a chance to apply your skills and ideals toward helping others and meeting critical needs in the community. National Service programs, AmeriCorps, and Goodwill Industries – Big Bend share the same goal: providing services to the community while helping those in need to become self sufficient.

The focus of the AmeriCorps Goodwill GoodWorks! Program is to recruit AmeriCorps members and volunteers to provide services to our program participants in order to strengthen the whole family and transition to stability. The members and volunteers will primarily assist with training, community resource connections, and housing connections. They will help in training areas such as computers, financial literacy, GED, keyboarding, and office skills. Members will also connect clients with community resources so they can get financially stable. This will be done by helping them find employment and overcome barriers. Barriers can involve lack of computer skills, money management, and lack of reliable transportation. Assisting with housing connections will help clients who are homeless find safe and stable housing as well as assist in overcoming other barriers.

Volunteers are an untapped resource and can provide an immeasurable service to not only the community but to the individuals themselves. There are people out there who currently volunteer as mentors, tutors, coaches, story tellers at libraries and many other roles.

Volunteers are out there. There are people out there who take civic responsibility very important, the AmeriCorps Goodwill GoodWorks! Program goal is to recruit those same members and volunteers to provide services directly to their communities. If you are interested in making a real and tangible difference in your community by volunteering for the AmeriCorps Goodwill GoodWorks! Program, call Susie Arce in Panama City at 850-522-3900 or email sarce@goodwillbigbend.com.

Tallahassee’s 2nd Goodwill Bookstore Is Open

gcumbie — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 20:09:35 +0000

Goodwill Industries – Big Bend, Inc. second bookstore has opened in Tallahassee. The store is housed with Goodwill’s recycling center and store at 2800 West Tennessee Street.

As part of the grand opening activities on January 16, all FSU, FAMU, TCC, Leon County school and private school teachers received a 25 percent teacher appreciation discount.

The bookstore is set up similar to Goodwill’s bookstore on Thomasville Road. They are stocked with 30,000 – 40,000 books ranging from all types of fiction and non-fiction including text books, rare books and cookbooks – especially popular in the Thomasville Road store. New inventory will be added daily.

The bookstore is housed with Goodwill’s new electronic recycling center and store which opened in December and their car lot which has been moved from 2537 West Tennessee Street.

Proceeds from all Goodwill stores provide income to train people with disabilities for jobs.

The bookstore is open seven days a week.

GIBB Village Heroes Honored

gcumbie — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 20:26:53 +0000

Tragedy was averted by the quick actions of two Goodwill Industries – Big Bend employees. Shortly after 3 PM on Monday, January 11, 2010, a stove top fire at the GIBB Oakridge Village, operated for people with disabilities on very low incomes, threatened the life of a tenant and possibly others at the 40 unit complex. The tenant noticed the fire, called the fire department, and remained in the apartment. Minutes later Chris Williams and Kester “Willie” Hipshire heard the alarm activated by the smoke detector at the apartment. Without concern for their own safety, the two Goodwill employees rushed in, evacuated the resident from the smoke filled apartment, and extinguished the fire before if could spread to other units. “Thanks to their quick thinking and bravery, Chris and Willie averted a tragedy that could have taken the life of not only the tenant, but others in the complex as well’” says complex manager Marie Brown. “If not for their bravery, others could have been forced from their homes as well”. Goodwill CEO and President Fred Shelfer thanked the two heroes’ and presented them with a certificate at a ceremony on Friday, January 15, 2010 at GIBB Oakridge Village, located at 274 Ross Road in Tallahassee.

Goodwill Offers Affordable Apartments for People with Low Incomes, Disabilities

admin — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 18:02:34 +0000

Goodwill Industries – Big Bend, Inc. has been providing accessible apartment rentals for 20 years. In 1989 we opened GIBB Oakridge Village for people with disabilities and very low incomes. Some of the people who moved into GIBB Oakridge Village in 1989 are still living there today.

Goodwill now has similar “villages” in Tallahassee (2), Marianna, and Panama City (2), Florida, as well as Bainbridge and Thomasville (2), Georgia. Each of these complexes is barrier-free allowing residents in wheelchairs and with other disabilities to live independently.

In 1997, we acquired Oakridge Townhouses in Tallahassee. These Townhouses provide 60 two bedroom apartments for people age 62 and above.

In 2009 we opened 15 apartments in Cairo, Georgia. Our application to build 15 apartments in Perry, (Taylor County) Florida was approved. Occupancy is targeted for 2010.

All of Goodwill’s apartments are rented to people with low or very low incomes. The Village rents are subsidized by the U. S. Department of Housing & Urban Development, and the Townhouses rents are subsidized by the U. S. Department of Agriculture –

Rural Development.

Store Locations

admin — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 12:58:48 +0000

Goodwill Industries – Big Bend, Inc. has stores located throughout north Florida and South Georgia. Click “Stores” above for locations of our retail outlets, bookstores, car lot and recycling center & store.