Community support through financial gifts and volunteerism allows our Job Training and Education (JTE) programs to grow and flourish. Such support inspires an annual event called the Thank-a-Thon.

The Thank-a-Thon is a special evening during which Seattle Goodwill Board members, senior leadership, Goodwill Ambassadors and JTE staff call donors and volunteers to thank them for their generous commitment to our work.  We held our third annual gathering on February 11th.

“Thanking financial donors and our volunteers is part of cultivating relationships with them and making them feel valued and a part of the solution,” said Betsy McFeely, Goodwill Senior Director of Community and Government Relations. “I feel similarly about thanking our shoppers and material donors as well. Without all of them, we could not do what we do every day.”

Vocational training, like the Youth Aerospace and Youth Maritime, and classes, such as English for Speakers of Other Languages, each benefit from Goodwill’s supporters. Goodwill is also able to offer services that include: food, housing, healthcare, transportation and immigration-related assistance to students free of charge.

“I think it's worth remembering that many of our donors once *were* our students,” said another caller Dan Graham, Job Training and Education Center Manger in Mount Vernon. “I find it so gratifying to know that we have meant something to them, and giving to our program represents an opportunity to give something back - not just to us, but also to a new generation of folks who, just like themselves, have found this great tool for forging a path forward towards a better life.”

Seattle Goodwill works to help remove students’ barriers to employment by preparing people for work in the current and future marketplace. JTE programs provide opportunities for individuals and families to gain economic stability; and this, in return, enriches the community around them.

Thank you to all of Goodwill’s supporters!  For financial giving or volunteer opportunities, please contact philanthropy@seattlegoodwill.org.