Why Goodwill of Greater Washington?

This week we’re joining other DC area fashion bloggers to participate in #blog4good as part of Goodwill Industries Week. Hopefully you already know about our support for Goodwill of Greater Washington, we thought this would be a great opportunity to tell you more about  why we selected this particular nonprofit as the beneficiary of some of our biggest promotions of the year.

Over the years Davelle Clothiers has had many meaningful partnerships with several nonprofit organizations, including Youth for Tomorrow and Operation Homefront.  Last fall we were considering a new nonprofit beneficiary for our fall Trade-In Event, and took a closer look at Goodwill of Greater Washington.

They initially caught our eye because we were following the Goodwill Fashionista Blog.  Even though her focus is on vintage and contemporary second-hand clothing and ours is high end designer and custom clothing, we both fundamentally share the goal of educating and empowering people to look their best.

And we share a passion for value- getting the most return on your investment.  As the fashionista says, “It’s about shopping smart.”  From there we began learning about the work of Goodwill, and we realized there was a lot we didn’t know!

We quickly learned that Goodwill is very effective in helping people find jobs.  Their primary mission is to provide job training and employment services to people with disabilities and disadvantages.  Everything that is donated to Goodwill supports their job training and job placement programs.

And we found out that they get results-

• In 2012 over 3,200 people received these job training and placement services.

• DC Goodwill successfully placed 228 people into new jobs in 2012 and employed over 600 people in its retail stores, contract services and administrative support divisions

• Over 91% of DC Goodwill’s funding goes directly towards our job training and employment services.

• DC Goodwill donated almost $70,000 in Good Samaritan vouchers to other nonprofit agencies in 2012.

Learning this, it was an easy decision to partner with Goodwill.  As a family owned small business for over 22 years, we believe strongly in the dignity of work and the power of providing a helping hand for all people to find employment.  We know that job training and job placement services are an important part of a strong community and a strong economy, things that benefit us all.

Since then, we’ve continued to be impressed by the work of Goodwill of Greater Washington.  And we want to do more. Right now, during our Investment Sale, we’re inviting customers to purchase a $25 SmarTrip Metro Card for job training program graduates, and we’ll match every purchase card for card.

Watch this video, just one of their many success stories:

A Full Time Job Gave Frederick His Independence

We encourage you to learn more about Goodwill of Greater Washington, please visit www.dcgoodwill.org.