Goodwill planning to expand to Tonawanda
Goodwill Industries will open a new donation trailer in the Town of Tonawanda Wednesday, and another store by August, as part of an effort to combat the poor economy: More people with disabilities are looking for help finding jobs just as the funding that comes from store revenues slips.
Now that people have less money to spend, they are shopping less and they hang on to their old things more. This means fewer donated clothes, dishes, books and couches for Goodwill to sell, said Thomas Guagliardo, a vice president at Goodwill.
He hopes the new location at 3177 Eggert Road in the Colvin- Eggert Plaza in the Town of Tonawanda will attract more donations and shoppers in a part of Western New York that is new to Goodwill. The donation trailer opens July 1 and a store in the same plaza opens the following month.
“It kind of introduces Goodwill to that location,” Guagliardo said. “It leverages the Goodwill and the Tonawandas.”
Already there are five stores, two in Buffalo and one each in Clarence, Hamburg and Cheektowaga.
Last year income from selling used, donated goods at these Goodwill stores helped 2,700 people in the Goodwill program, which includes literacy and job training. Out of that group, 206 got jobs, Guagliardo said.
This spring, general demand for services rose: 565 people used the program, about an extra 50 people from the same period last year.
“Take that second look in your closet,” he suggested. Perhaps there is an ignored shirt way in the back that could go to Goodwill. “That always helps,” he said.
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