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Our training programs help people get jobs.
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Our stores provide good things at good prices.
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Our youth programs make the future brighter.
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Just as there are things you recycle, there are things you donate.
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Goodwill, not landfill.
Our mission is to provide exemplary job training and related services to help individuals with disabilities and other barriers to self-sufficiency to achieve independence and dignity through work.
Bruce Bird: Goodwill and Vinfen Connect for Jobs
Good Workers from Goodwill
Vinfen is a growing nonprofit organization that plays a vital role in helping individuals in the community who have disabilities. In fact, Vinfen is one of the largest providers of mental health services in Massachusetts.
Established in 1977, the organization provides a broad array of services that help children, youth, and adults with psychiatric, developmental and behavioral disabilities.
"We provide a pathway for individuals from the hospital to a halfway house and then to a group home," says Vinfen CEO Bruce Bird, Ph.D. "We were way ahead of the curve in developing our facilities and programs."
Bird adds, "What Vinfen does is fulfill the real promise that people with more than the usual challenges can live happy lives. We have a great model and a great team. We also have a great need – a caring workforce. That’s why our connection to Goodwill is so important."
The connection between Vinfen and Goodwill began many years ago and has since grown into a formal partnership. "Goodwill is a true partner," says Bird. "It’s hard to find good people for entry-level positions in the human services arena. Goodwill has a wonderful program called ‘HELP’ that stands for Human Services Employment Ladder. The individuals that graduate from their HELP program are a great source of good workers for Vinfen."
Bird adds, "The job training they receive at Goodwill is an excellent background for our own rigorous training and evidence-based best practices. Goodwill’s HELP graduates make the transition easily and move into the workforce where they have a solid career. And they have something even more important – hope for a productive, responsible life."
Leo Purcell: The Life-Changing Connection
A wonderful example of the success of Goodwill’s social enterprise programs is Leo Purcell who is now a team leader in Goodwill’s Somerville store. "I don’t know what I would have done if it hadn’t been for Goodwill," he says. "You see, it all happened because, well, because I had some trouble with the law. Nobody would hire me. Nobody. I tried everywhere and everything, but I couldn’t get a job."
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