Super Bowl Commercials

By Suzanha Peña

First of all, Congratulations to the Saints!

Now, did you see the Super Bowl commercials?

I did. What did you think? Anything jump out at you? As a marketing person I always enjoy watching the commercials as much as the game.

Yesterday on morning news stations they said something about how there were a number of commercials where the men seemed to have less clothing. All I could think about was, ‘whew, good thing we didn’t show Goodwill’s commercial where our Goodwill guy is in his undergarments on the back of a Goodwill trailer.’ We would have been lumped in with those commercials. Instead we showed our ‘brand name labels’ commercial and it aired during half-time!

Did anyone else see it?

Blast from the past!

By Janelle Otero

It's Thursday, the day is almost over, then I get a horrifying text from my mom that says, "Can I donate your trolls to Goodwill?" I COULDN'T believe my mom wanted to just give away my trolls!! After all the good memories of braiding their mohawk like hair, dressing them, collecting them and she just wanted to give them away!!

THEN, she sent me a picture (see below) of their innocent little faces with a caption of "Please."

You know, that's when I realized there are some things, like trolls, that could really change somebody's life. I haven't even looked at my box of trolls in who knows how many years. I couldn't tell you how many are in there or what they look like, except for the ones in the picture. So I decided to hang onto the ONE troll that was a part of my life and a true inspiration to not scratch my chicken pox at age 6.

The rest are all off to the Goodwill in Albuquerque, New Mexico to help raise funds to support Goodwill's mission. I know sometimes it's hard to let go of items from the past, but keep in mind you are supporting our mission and helping your community when you donate.

New Year's Resolution Update

By Charles House

How are you New Year's resolutions coming along? Hopefully you took my advice last month and set up long-term goals and are still on track for success.

So here's an update on my last post in which I gave you a little insight to some of my goals for this year.

The first order of business was to stop business as usual. Whenever I have a class or a training to teach, I put out some sort of snack. Now, in the past I put out snacks that belonged to the group "sugarius unhealthius" and usually took the form of a brownie, oatmeal pie or a swiss roll. I rid our cabinet of all evils belonging to the "sugarius unhealthius" group and replaced them with a variety of fruit&grain bars and granola bars.

Next order of business: no more pizza! Although I haven't fully expunged pizza from the building, I have stopped serving pizza on all but one occasion. The hardest thing about pizza is that there isn't anything that comes close as far as price. It costs 3 times as more to order decent sandwiches than to just simply order pizza. With classes of 40+, the price can be a bit outrageous. If you have any ideas let me know!

I've also stopped serving soda as a primary beverage option. I still have it on hand for the die-hard drinkers but I'm in the process of slowly phasing it out. Did you know that a 12-ounce can of Coke contains 140 calories and 39 grams of sugar? And that a can of Sunkist of the same size comes in at 190 calories and 52 grams of sugar! ?! With numbers like these it's no wonder why soda is a major deterrent when trying to lose weight. Hopefully that's motivation for some of you to kick the can!

Personally, I'm doing very well (pats self on the back). I've completed my first month on my "nothing, fried, sweet and no carbs after 6pm" diet lifestyle change. That's an entire month without french fries, chicken nuggets or dark chocolate!! I eat out occasionally, but most of the food I eat is made at home that way I have a better understanding of what's in my food. Also, I've mixed up my training to included: biking, running, weight lifting and basketball.

In the coming month I hope to totally removed pizza and soda from the building.

To all of my co-workers reading this,

I'm only looking out for your best interest. Please don't tar and feather me!

LOOOOOOOOVE,

Charles

Grand Openings!

By Karen Boyer, Special Events Coordinator

I love the excitement and fun that surrounds grand openings. For Goodwill, grand openings mean that we are entering a new community or moving to a place where we can better serve the community.

On Saturday, February 13, we will be opening a new store in Round Rock. It will be located at 150 West Palm Valley Blvd. This store will provide the community with a more convenient location to shop and donate. This not only means a new location in Round Rock but also means more support for our mission of helping people with barriers to employment find work throughout the community.

Planning a grand opening is a great time to explore fun new possibilities. With each grand opening I work the marketing team to find something new and exciting to offer.

I am thrilled that we will be having Chick-fil-A and the Chick-fil-A cow stop by the Round Rock grand opening. Driving home everyday I see the cows working on the billboards trying to convince people to eat more chicken. It will be fun to finally meet one of the cows. I’m sure the kids will be even more thrilled. In the morning there will be a ribbon cutting ceremony followed by breakfast tacos from Rudy’s Country Store and Bar-B-Q. As delicious as they are I’m sure they’ll be eaten up in a jiffy.

We will also be having a face painter and balloon artist stop by. Of course it wouldn’t be a grand opening without prizes. The first 100 people in line will receive a prize. We will also have drawings throughout the day including bowling from Mel’s Lone Star Lanes and a computer from Goodwill’s Computer Works. I’m still looking for more fun ideas. Feel free to post yours.

"Where there is life, there is hope.”

By Jerry Davis

I recently heard a saying I’ve always loved: "Where there is life, there is hope." It dropped gently from someone’s mouth to my ear, but it landed with a thud in my brain.

I had been thinking about the people with a felony record that Goodwill hires. My estimate is that we have about 70 people with this background. I wondered, is it true that you can still have hope if you’ve committed a felony? If the crime is not so heinous does society really ever let you "back in?" Or is there a sense of execution because society doesn't really let you "back in?'

Does this then line our society up with our peers (Afghanistan, the Bahamas, China, Cuba, Egypt, India, Iran, Iraq, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, North and South Korea, Libya, Malaysia, Pakistan, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Sudan, Syria, Thailand, Uganda, and Vietnam)?

I know a young man, released last year, who tasted a summer of promise, hope and expectation. But he didn’t get a job. He did something that most would consider simply stupid—unless you were on probation—and now the “good” news is that he’s doing six years instead of the ten he could have received.

Make no mistake: hiring a former felon—someone who’s done the time we dictated as his punishment—is about the only cure. We do this at Goodwill. Ask us why it works so well.

Staying Fit in 2010

By Janelle Otero

Time flies! We have almost gotten through the first month of 2010. How are everybody's New Year's resolutions coming along?

One of my New Year's resolutions, along with the rest of the world, is to work out daily and stay fit! Since graduating from college, I no longer have tennis practice everyday, 2-3 tennis matches weekly, nor weight lifting weekly. Well...no longer mandatory tennis, weights, running, etc. BUT it is mandatory for me to stay healthy. I have had my break from tennis and rested my body, now back to the gym!!

Did I mention that another one of my New Year's resolutions is to save money??? Hmmm...gym membership and saving money do not quite mix. Last week, I stopped in at my local Goodwill to look for healthy cookbooks and a few workout tools to help me stay fit. Of course, I found some things! Look how easy it is for you tp stay fit in 2010, save money AND help out your community!

With education comes more than knowledge

By Jerry Davis

I’ve never heard anyone say that education doesn’t matter. In any life, education satisfies the need to be competent, and more education usually means more competence, and more opportunities. And so on. Studies show a tremendous difference in the lifetime earnings of someone who has a high school education and someone who doesn’t, and a larger difference exists between the high school graduate and a college graduate. These are million dollar differences.

We attract a large number of people who never graduated from high school. The reasons are as different as the people, and all are severely challenged to get their General Equivalency Diploma (GED). Just imagine how many things in your life would have to change to pursue a degree.

We do two things differently at Goodwill that make me proud. First, we have a GED teacher on staff.* Second, we award $1,000 to our employees if they get their GED in 6 months, no matter where you are in the process (getting a GED requires you pass several proficiency tests, and we hire some people who are already “in-process”). We have a long way to go since only four employees took advantage of this option in 2009, and we are committed to being a learning organization. Besides the advantages to anyone getting a GED, this strengthens our company by showing a commitment to our employees, increasing employee talent, and building competence in so many ways. I think our founder, Dr. Edgar Helms, would be pleased if he was still with us today—and yesterday also happened to be his birthday.

*24 Youth Services Program participants were also taught by our teacher in 2009.