As it turns out, a lot! Just ask local students.
Each year we visit area schools, hosting pep rallies and donation drives to encourage students to donate the gently used clothes, toys and other items they no longer want to Goodwill.
Students learn how their donations do much more than just provide local shoppers with great values—they get to see how their generosity helps keep millions of pounds of gently used items out of local landfills, while also allowing Goodwill to help people find work. Last year, we helped almost 18,000 people find and keep jobs. That’s enough people to fill the entire Time Warner Cable Arena!
But what about all those apples? Well, with help from local students (their donations alone raised an estimated $85,200 just last year), we managed to keep more than 55 million pounds of clothing, household items and computers out of local landfills through the sale of donated items in our stores in 2009—the weight of about 175 million apples!
As the 2010-2011 school year begins, we’re looking forward to visiting more schools and continuing to share our enthusiasm for helping the environment and our community.
Here’s what we’ve got planned so far. If there’s a nearby school on the list, feel free to stop by and drop off some donations of your own—or if you’re interested in hosting a donation drive at your school, click here for details.
- October 4-5: J.V. Washam Elementary, Cornelius
- October 18-19: Cotswold Elementary, Charlotte
- October 25-26: Endhaven Elementary, Charlotte
- December 8-9: Charlotte Country Day Lower School, Charlotte
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