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2017 Annual Report to the community
From operations to job training to improving our customer experiences,
we are EVOLVING. We are harnessing change and working for a brighter future
in order to better serve the communities we call home.
OUR MISSION
To assist individuals with barriers to employment in making the transition to independence and self-sufficiency.
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OUR VISION
Service excellence in developing human potential.
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OUR PHILOSOPHY
We believe that work plays a critical role in our lives and forms the cornerstone of a person's relationships with others. Through the power and dignity of work, individuals are able to achieve both economic self-sufficiency and a productive role in society.
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Meet The Winners: TELLING THEIR STORIES
Graduate of the Year Winner - Anthony Kester
Anthony Kester was referred to Goodwill Industries of Mid-Michigan by Michigan Rehabilitation Services for a Community Based Assessment to determine whether he was able to obtain and maintain competitive employment. Following his successful assessment, he entered Goodwill’s Job Development services program.
Anthony earned both his GED and a Data Processing Certificate and previously worked at a print shop and a beet sugar company. When he started working with Goodwill he did not have a driver's license nor had he worked in a permanent position for two years due to his employment barrier and lack of transportation.
With assistance from Goodwill, Anthony applied for a position at Wal-Mart and a local fast food restaurant and was contacted the next day by the fast food restaurant for an interview. The day after that, Wal-Mart contacted him for an interview. Anthony went to both interviews and the fast food restaurant offered him a full-time job immediately after his interview, which he accepted. He has maintained his job at the fast food restaurant in a full time maintenance position and is willing to come in whenever needed. The fast food restaurant has a strict attendance and tardiness policy, which Anthony has had no problem meeting. He likes the work he is doing and being able to contribute to his own support. Anthony’s confidence has noticeably increased since obtaining his full time position. He does not hesitant when speaking and sounds excited. His MRS counselor even made a comment about how much more confident he appears to be.
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Anthony lives with his/her sister and now pays her monthly rent. He has secured his driver’s license and bought a truck to drive. He is able to pay for everything he needs to live independently and has been able to save some money to help him get his own place.
A.K. is satisfied with his job and plans on continuing to work. He has already achieved some of his goals, but his long-term future goal is to open a non-profit
Achiever of the Year Winner - Affton Cross
Affton Cross was referred to Goodwill Industries of Mid-Michigan by Michigan Bureau Services for Blind Persons (MPBP) in January, 2017 to assess his readiness for competitive employment. He is a high school graduate and has attended one year at Baker College. Affton worked from 2002 until 2015 as a shipping and material handler until he could no longer work due to his disability.
At first, Affton had some difficulty getting around Goodwill’s Averill location, but his Goodwill Workforce Development counselor worked with him to devised a plan to help him become more comfortable with his surroundings. At his workstation, Affton found ways of becoming faster and more efficient as he prepared clothing for sale in Goodwill’s stores.
During his evaluation, Affton displayed an extremely positive attitude and a good work ethic, working productively at the workstation. He tracked the amount of clothes that were hung daily, and remembered that amount. He set daily personal goals for how many articles of clothing he could hang and always achieved and sometimes exceeded his goals. He never needed to have directions repeated and rarely made errors in his work. Paying attention to the details, Affton hung the proper amount per rack, all in the same direction and made sure zippers and buttons were fastened.
The assessment and work experience restored Affton’s confidence; he learned that he is able to work, follow instructions and overcome his disability.
Affton lives with his spouse, daughter and grandchild in their own home. He is able to care for himself, but relies on his spouse for transportation. Affton is hoping to secure competitive employment as he feels working would give him the opportunity to spend his days more productively. Until that time he is interested in doing some volunteer work and pursuing a prior activity as a DJ.
Graduate of the Year
Runner-Up: Â Otto Guild
Achiever of the Year
Runner-Up: Â
Kendra Thurston
Otto Guild was referred to Goodwill Industries of Mid Michigan by the Bureau of Services for Blind Persons for a 3-week Community Based Vocational Assessment in order to explore his opportunities for competitive integrated employment at The Rock Youth Development Center in Midland. His assessment was so successful that he was hired by and is still working for The Rock today. Otto is a high school graduate and has completed some classes at Delta College. He has worked as a Cabin Leader at Lions Bear Lake Camp every summer since 2011 and also participated in an internship at an assisted living facility where he helped plan activities for the residents.
Due to his disability, Otto does not have a driver’s license so transportation was also a barrier to employment. He needed a job in Midland on the bus route with set times. He also wanted to continue taking college courses at Delta. When Goodwill Industries of Mid-Michigan offered to conduct his assessment at The Rock, he quickly agreed since he would be working with students and having a positive effect on their lives.
Otto. has maintained his position at The Rock for over a year and is a valued member of their team. He helps provide positive after school activities for youth and is someone they can talk to when they are having problems. Otto is dependable, works well with the youth and goes the extra mile to ensure a positive experience for them. The Rock was trying to have themed weeks of activities and Otto suggested a week to expose the youth to what it is like to be blind. The Rock loved the idea and tasked him with planning all of the activities for the week, which he did successfully.
Otto continually works on improving himself. He has transferred from Delta College to Northwood University where he is studying hospitality. He currently lives with his mother, but is able to pay for everything he needs to live independently. Once he completes all of his classes and has earned a degree,
he would like to pursue a position as an Event Planner.
Kendra Thurston attended Hemlock High School and then the Transitions Center in Saginaw from 2015 to 2017 and lives at home with her mother and father. She does not have a high school Diploma but earned a Certificate of Completion when she was first referred to Goodwill Industries of Mid-Michigan by Michigan Rehabilitation Services (MRS) of Saginaw.
Kendra helped volunteer at her dad's company but had no previous work experience before being referred to Goodwill for a 2-week pre-Employment Training Work Based Learning Experience in June 2017 at Goodwill. During this experience, she was with a job coach and five other students throughout her shift and struggled to communicate other co-workers and overcome her shyness. However, she kept focused on her work which included processing, tagging and hanging clothing and household goods removing old items off shelves and racks. Kendra showed great work qualities such as attention to detail and motivation to complete assigned tasks, even when tedious or boring. Due to her disability, following instructions can be hard for her at times, but Kendra asked appropriate questions to clarify her tasks.
Kendra’s performance led to a referral from Michigan Rehabilitation Services for a Community Based Assessment /On the Job Evaluation at HealthSource Saginaw in January, 2018. While at HealthSource she worked as an Activity Aide, assisting residents with breakfast and meals, transporting them to and from various activities, attending activities such as church events, games and musical events. She successfully completed the assessment, which gave her the confidence to begin job placement services and interviewing.
Kendra has a positive attitude, is willing to try any task and now excels with communication skills and social interactions. In less than a year, Kendra progressed from a fully supported work experience to a successful assessment in the community without supports and is now currently receiving job placement services for activity aide, dietary aide, or other related senior setting work positions.
Operations Employee
of the Year:  Ardis Tyson
Retail Employee
of the Year: Â Jessica Hart
Our 2017 Operations Employee of the Year is Ardis Tyson. Ardis began his career with Goodwill in April, 2016 as a donation attendant and then transferred to our Warehouse as a plant production team member at the Outlet Center in early 2017.
He then moved on to work in both the household goods and new goods department. He has also helped out with the production of textiles and baling of cardboard when needed. Ardis is currently assigned to the new goods department full time.
Ardis is a great worker with a great attitude and a terrific smile. He is always willing to help and multi-task wherever needed at the Averill plant facility.
Congratulations, Ardis!
Retail Store of the Year: Â
Birch Run
Goodwill’s 2017 Retail Store of the Year is our Birch Run store, located in Saginaw County within the Premium Outlets Mall in Birch Run. Birch Run produced a 12% sales increase during 2017 while keepings costs below budget, increasing donations and providing a great work site for our community services program.
At the Mall’s request, Goodwill’s Birch Run store was relocated within the shopping center during 2017. After the store’s reopening, Birch Run grew steadily to become our 4th largest store in 2017. This growth has been possible in large part due to the outstanding customer service delivered by the store team.
Congratulations to store manager Jessica Harris and her Birch Run store team!
Jessica Hart, who has been an Assistant Manager at Goodwill’s Saginaw store for three years, was selected as the 2017 Retail Employee of the Year. She is an outstanding team member who interacts with customers and other store team members in a very friendly, positive manner. She is a great role model for other employees, offering help whenever she can, including rearranging her schedule or coming in on her days off to cover for other team members. She readily accepts any task or responsibility given to her. Jessica is very sales driven and actively and works hard to help the Saginaw store achieve its sales and other performance goals.
Jessica is also very active in community events and works with local organizations to spread Goodwill’s mission. She constantly thinks about ideas to increase donations and agency revenue as well as present our name and mission to the community in a positive manner.
Congratulations, Jessica!
Community Partner
of the Year:
Fred Wydra Farmers Insurance Agency
The Fred Wydra Farmers Insurance Agency is located in Freeland, Michigan and is owned and operated by Fred Wydra. Since its inception in the spring of 2017, Mr. Wydra has been an enthusiastic partner of Goodwill Industries of Mid-Michigan. He is always more than willing to let us bring in program participants we serve to perform community-based assessments.
Mr. Wydra’s agency is a great site for clerical and computer related evaluations, which are relatively difficult to find. During an assessment, he is very patient and encouraging to our program participants and makes both the participants and our staff feel comfortable and welcome. At the end of one program participant’s assessment, Mr. Wydra brought in donuts as a kind gesture to thank the program participant for the work that they did during their assessment.
Mr. Wydra has been willing to hire program participants as well. Goodwill approached him about a program participant who wanted to work from home making customer service-related phone calls. Mr. Wydra decided he could use some help setting up appointments with potential clients and that this could be done by someone working from home. Working with the counselor at the program participant’s referral agency, the Bureau of Services for Blind Persons, Goodwill made sure the person was a good fit for the position and that all of the necessary assistive technology was in place and was compatible with Farmer’s computer programs.
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In order to train for the position however, the program participant needed to work at the Agency location and was not able to work at home during the training program. Mr. Wydra was more than willing to work longer hours and keep his agency open later to accommodate this individual. Unfortunately, the individual decided that the position was not a good fit. Although Mr. Wydra was disappointed because he felt the individual would be able to do the job, he was very understanding and asked if we had other candidates who would be interested in the position.
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The Fred Wydra Farmers Insurance Agency exemplifies an ideal partner for Goodwill Industries of Mid-Michigan and we appreciate Mr. Wydra’s willingness to work with us and, most importantly, the individuals we serve.
Graduate of the Year Winner: Anthony Kester
Anthony Kester was referred to Goodwill Industries of Mid-Michigan by Michigan Rehabilitation Services for a Community Based Assessment to determine whether he was able to obtain and maintain competitive employment. Following his successful assessment, he entered Goodwill’s Job Development services program.
Anthony earned both his GED and a Data Processing Certificate and previously worked at a print shop and a beet sugar company. When he started working with Goodwill he did not have a driver's license nor had he worked in a permanent position for two years due to his employment barrier and lack of transportation.
With assistance from Goodwill, Anthony applied for a position at Wal-Mart and a local fast food restaurant and was contacted the next day by the fast food restaurant for an interview. The day after that, Wal-Mart contacted him for an interview. Anthony went to both interviews and the fast food restaurant offered him a full-time job immediately after his interview, which he accepted. He has maintained his job at the fast food restaurant in a full time maintenance position and is willing to come in whenever needed. The fast food restaurant has a strict attendance and tardiness policy, which Anthony has had no problem meeting. He likes the work he is doing and being able to contribute to his own support. Anthony’s confidence has noticeably increased since obtaining his full time position. He does not hesitate when speaking and sounds excited. His MRS counselor even made a comment about how much more confident he appears to be.
​
Anthony lives with his sister and now pays her monthly rent. He has secured his driver’s license and bought a truck to drive. He is able to pay for everything he needs to live independently and has been able to save some money to help him get his own place.
Anthony is satisfied with his job and plans on continuing to work. He has already achieved some of his goals, but his long-term future goal is to open a non-profit spiritual awareness center.
Achiever of the Year Winner: Affton Cross
Affton Cross was referred to Goodwill Industries of Mid-Michigan by Michigan Bureau Services for Blind Persons (MPBP) in January, 2017 to assess his readiness for competitive employment. He is a high school graduate and has attended one year at Baker College. Affton worked from 2002 until 2015 as a shipping and material handler until he could no longer work due to his disability.
At first, Affton had some difficulty getting around Goodwill’s Averill location, but his Goodwill Workforce Development counselor worked with him to devised a plan to help him become more comfortable with his surroundings. At his workstation, Affton found ways of becoming faster and more efficient as he prepared clothing for sale in Goodwill’s stores.
During his evaluation, Affton displayed an extremely positive attitude and a good work ethic, working productively at the workstation. He tracked the amount of clothes that were hung daily, and remembered that amount. He set daily personal goals for how many articles of clothing he could hang and always achieved and sometimes exceeded his goals. He never needed to have directions repeated and rarely made errors in his work. Paying attention to the details, Affton hung the proper amount per rack, all in the same direction and made sure zippers and buttons were fastened.
The assessment and work experience restored Affton’s confidence; he learned that he is able to work, follow instructions and overcome his disability.
Affton lives with his spouse, daughter and grandchild in their own home. He is able to care for himself, but relies on his spouse for transportation. Affton is hoping to secure competitive employment as he feels working would give him the opportunity to spend his days more productively. Until that time he is interested in doing some volunteer work and pursuing a prior activity as a DJ.
BY THE NUMBERS
Community Impact
Goodwill Industries of Mid-Michigan serves over 700 clients annually. We operate 17 retail stores, 8 donation centers and 1 outlet center in 10 Mid-Michigan counties, which fund our employment training and other programs to put people to work. In 2017, we recycled more than 7.93 million pounds of material which otherwise would have ended up in community landfills. *2017 annual report data
Those We Serve
Service Programs
Individuals Served
Placements
Vouchers Honored
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Barriers to Employment
Blind
Other Physical Disability
Learning Disability
Developmental Disability
Psychiatric and/or Emotional Disability
Other Disabling Condition
At-Risk Youth
Offenders/Ex-Offenders
Other Disadvantaging Condition
Unknown or Unreported Barrier
736
707
29
155
​
15
38
63
64
64
10
20
208
386
126
Gender
Female 314
Male 365
​
Ethnicity
White 414
Black/African-American 156
Hispanic Origin 34
Other 15
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Age
0-15 2
16-24 243
25-34 166
35-44 88
45-54 74
55 & Over 58
2017 Financial Statement
The Community Gave to Goodwill
Contributions
Store Sales and Salvage
WFC Fees and Grants
Other
Total Revenue
6,677,790
15,164,778
721,317
160,039
22,723,924
Goodwill Gave Back to the Community
Wages, Benefits, Taxes
Contributions Exp
Utilities
Rents
Insurance, Property Tax, Maint.
Depreciation
Supplies
Retail Goods
Other
Total Expenses
9,088,637
6,621,839
582,892
1,635,613
1,203,607
340,155
428,836
1,462,595
1,127,288
22,491,462
community partners
24/7 Fire Restoration
Abeantogo Coffee
Agri-Valley Communications, Inc.
Al Hanson Motors
Amazing Engraving
American Gasser
American Red Cross
Ameriprise Financial
Bad Axe Lanes
Baker College
Blue Water Youth
Boy Scouts Water and Woods Council
Brandon High School
Brew for You
Brown and Brown Insurance
Bureau of Services for Blind Persons
Burkhard Window Cleaning
Campbell Wood Products
Captain John's
Caro Chamber of Commerce
Carriage Town Ministries
Catholic Charities-Flint
Chase Bank
Cintas
Community First Initiative
Community Ventures
Consumer Servies, Inc
Courtney Manor
Covenant HealthCare of Saginaw
Davison Outreach East
Disability Works
Dollar General
Dollar Tree
Downtown Outreach Ministries
Easter Seals
Evangel Life Church
EZ Awareness by Design
Family Economic Security Project
Farm Bureau Insurance Agency
Farmers Market of Flint
Financial Group
First Merit Bank
Flint and Genesee County Chamber of Commerce
Flint Area Reinvenstment Office
Flint Job Corps
Flint Kiwanis
Flint MTA
Flushing H. S. Key Club
Food Bank of Eastern Michigan
Franklin Inn
Genesee Health System
Genesee Intermediate School District
Girl Scouts of America
Goyette Mechanical
Green Clean Bean
Hamilton Community Health Network
HealthPlus
Holiday Inn Express Birch Run/Frankenmuth
Hope Network
Huron County Child Abuse and Neglect Council
Janitorial and Paper Supply Co.
Jersey Zone
Job Corps
Kettering University
Lapeer Chamber of Commerce
LDS Employment Resource Center of Oakland County
Linden High School
Majeski Party Store
Masud Labor Law Group
McDonald Food & Family
Meinhold's Car Wash
Metro Community Development
Michigan Association of Rehabilitation Organizations
Michigan Community Services, Inc.
Michigan Dept. of Health and Human Services
Michigan Rehabilitation Service
Moore Motors
Morley Companies
Motel 6
Mott Community College
Taylor Life Center
Treatment and Training , Inc
New Hope Valley
NorthGate
O'Reilly Auto Parts
Osentowski Farm Equipment
Pasta House
Peebles
People First of Genesee County
Pigeon Hardware
Pigeon Library
Poblanos Restaurant
Pride and Country Village
Prost Wine Bar & Charcuterie
Red Roof Inn
Ruth Mott Foundation
Safe and Active Genesee for Everyone-SAGE
Safe Haven House - Saginaw
Saginaw Animal Control Center
Saginaw Chamber of Commerce
Saginaw County Controllers Office
Self Serve Lumber
Shelter, Inc. - Oscoda
Sports Tees
Stardust Bowling
Student Learning Center East of Shiawassee County
Sullivan's Blackforest Brew Haus & Grill
Taco Bell
Talaski Plumbing & Heating
Team One Credit Union
The State Bank
Transitions Center of Saginaw
United Way of Genesee County
University of Michigan-Flint
Vet Biz Central, Inc.
Walsh Meat
Water and Woods Council
Wellspring Lutheran Services
Wendy's Restaurant
Westcourt
Whaley Children's Center
Willowtree Restaurant
YMCA of Flint
YWCA of Flint
Membership
Joseph T. Batdorf
Ruben Burks
Daniel Cady
Edith Campbell
James E. Carlson
Jeffrey Collier
Eric & Caroline Ethington
Anne N. Gregory
Dennis and June M. Haley
Rosalind Hamady
Dr. Charles D. Hanson
Wen Hemingway
A. R. Hobson, Jr.
Grace Kleinpell
Gary Langdon
Olivia B. Maynard
Thomas B. Mudd
William H. Piper
John L. Riegle, Jr.
Kimberly Roberson
James R. Saule
Richard & Kim D. Skaff
Dr. & Mrs.Harold Steinman
Sally Stevens
Dr. Allen F. Turcke
Swartz Creek United Methodist Women
Rick Valley
Forrest W. VanValin
Arvid Waller
Paula Wangbichler
Robert Williams
David and Diane Wujciak
Thomas C. Yeotis
JoAnn & Paulus Kersten
Edward and Val A. Mitchell
Barbara J. Veasley
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Goodwill Industries gratefully acknowledges the generous financial support during 2017 from:
Stella and Frederick Loeb Charitable Trust
Anna Paulina Foundation
Virkler Charitable Fund
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