This last year has been unlike any other for Washington. From February to December in 2020, the unemployment rate in Washington State rose from 3.7% to 7.1%. As of February 2021, more than 215,000 Washingtonians are without a job. 

Throughout the pandemic, Goodwill has supported our community through our free classes, like English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL), High School Completion & Beyond, and Work Readiness. Case managers are ready to support students with their most urgent needs, and employment specialists work with students to build the tools and skills required to find and keep a steady job. Last year, more than 4,300 students enrolled in Goodwill classes, and 541 found jobs with over 250 local employers. Goodwill has helped people in our northwest Washington community find employment for nearly 100 years, but the need for our services has never been greater.

That’s where GiveBIG comes in. 

GiveBIG is a statewide online giving campaign that takes place annually. Through the event, individuals and businesses across Washington come together to invest in organizations making a difference in our community (like Goodwill). This year's campaign kicks off April 20 and culminates with a 48-hour giving event on May 4-5!

Join us for GiveBIG!

The kindness and generosity that GiveBIG generates allow Goodwill and other local organizations to keep helping our neighbors in need.  

Funds raised during GiveBIG support Goodwill students like Karen. 

Karen came to our Goodwill’s Skagit Valley Job Training & Education Center (JTEC) in 2016. For 30 years prior, she had worked as a housekeeper before a debilitating work-related injury halted her career. She needed a change but married while she was still in high school and never finished her education, which made finding a new career difficult. 

Goodwill’s Skagit Valley JTEC had all the resources and support Karen needed to overcome that worrisome point in her life. Karen enrolled in Goodwill’s High School 21+ program, where she thrived and received her high school diploma. Karen didn’t stop there. 

With Goodwill’s encouragement, Karen enrolled in classes at Skagit Valley Community College and two years later graduated in June 2020.

Karen was ready to enter the job market with her new credentials during the COVID-19 pandemic. She was concerned about her ability to find work, but in early September she was hired as a Family Support Administrative Assistant at the Sauk-Suiattle Indian Tribe Family Support Center. 

“I thought I was going to be a housekeeper the rest of my life, and that is where I’d leave my career,” Karen said. “This was a good challenge for me and a rewarding situation. Goodwill really gave me confidence in myself when I was going through schooling and making the decision on what I wanted to do. They’ve just kind of been the backbone for me to keep going. My husband has been a good support for me also.” 

Although we’ve been able to continue providing services throughout the pandemic, COVID-19 forced us to make some big changes. We shifted our free education and job training programs to a hybrid in-person and online format. Running free programs was made all the more difficult when we temporarily closed all of our nonprofit thrift stores last spring to help protect public health. In addition to creating job instability for 90% of our employee family, the closure put a stop to our most significant source of funding for our programs. 

We hope you’ll consider supporting Goodwill through GiveBIG this year. With the great challenges of this global pandemic still affecting us, we have a special opportunity with GiveBIG this year to make incredible change for our community.

Also, thanks to our match donors, Urban Visions and KOMO-TV, all gifts up to $20,000 will be matched 100%! 

Please join us as a GiveBIG donor today or help us spread the word by becoming a peer-to-peer (P2P) fundraiser! P2P fundraisers will host their own giving pages and reach out to their networks during the online giving event to raise funds for Goodwill’s GiveBIG campaign. Contact Individual Giving Coordinator, Francie Mylet at frances.mylet@seattlegoodwill.org for more details. 

Don’t forget to mark your calendars for May 4-5 to GiveBIG to the Goodwill community! 

Thank you to our generous matching partners!