Goodwill Bethlehem Store and Donation Center, at 3926 Nazareth Pike, celebrated a grand re-opening March 27 with fanfare from local officials and a spring-themed party for community members.

Although the store never shut down, the facility underwent an extensive renovation. The sales floor was upgraded from dated tile to polished concrete, and the donation receiving area was remodeled to provide employees with a more efficient and safe workspace – a boon to a facility that sees 100 to 200-plus donors per day.

State Rep. Joe Emrick was among the guests at the re-opening event, along with State Sen. Lisa Boscola and Congressman Ryan Mackenzie. Emrick’s office highlighted the importance of Goodwill to the community in a statement, noting that the Bethlehem location is back in business, “providing a place to recycle old articles of clothing, offering a free e-waste recycling initiative, supplying benefits counseling, re-entry services and vocational and job readiness programs to those in the Bethlehem community, and serving as a safe, healing environment for people with a mental illness with its Clubhouse of Lehigh County.”

The Press spoke with program directors at Goodwill Keystone to find out more about some of these programs.

Retail, donations, and e-recycling

Andrew Koons, Goodwill Keystone Region 1 retail district director, notes that one of the sustainability initiatives that is most exciting at Goodwill Bethlehem is the partnership with an e-waste recycling company that allows the facility to accept electronics.

According to Koons, another key part of Goodwill’s sustainability mission is finding a way to extend the lifetime of all donated garments.

“Gently used items will find their way to the selling floor” at the Bethlehem location or another regional store, while unsaleable garments are processed by salvage dealers and textile recyclers. During the biggest donation months, when the Bethlehem location receives more donated goods than other facilities around the state, donations are pooled so that each Goodwill thrift shop has a large, attractive selection of merchandise.

Employment

services

“Our Individualized Employment Services are designed to support individuals in achieving meaningful, competitive and integrated employment that aligns with their interests, strengths, and career goals,” explains Goodwill Keystone Director of Employment Services Jessica Trutt. “These person-centered services are tailored to each individual’s unique needs and include the following core components: assessment and evaluation, work based learning experiences, employment preparation, job search, job placement, follow-along and job retention.”

The organization provides benefits planning and counseling to individuals in need, as well as supporting employers who partner with Goodwill. Services to employers include retention support and information on tax incentives.

Women of Wealth

Taylor Gilbert, Women of Wealth program director at Goodwill Keystone, describes a vibrant, flexible financial education program for women of all ages that is entering its second year.

Women of Wealth teaches financial literacy to school groups of young women and men, and small groups of adult women. The school-age programs are aimed at showing young people at or before the time of their first job that saving at least part of each paycheck can have real benefits in the future.

“We’ve done community college, regular college, high school, and we’re about to do homeschool co-ops this summer. We have content for all ages,” Gilbert explains. “We do everything from your basic thinking all the way up to buying a home, starting investments, [thinking about] retirement funds. We tailor the curriculum to the age group.” Even young children are taught about money and different types of financial institutions, like credit unions.

Like the student programming, Women of Wealth sessions for adults are free. Usually organized through a partnership with a nonprofit, they can include mixed groups or women-only groups; Gilbert notes that women are still often at a financial disadvantage compared with men, for a variety of reasons. Group sessions meet Bi-Weekly or monthly, and one-on-one coaching is available to those seeking education about specific challenges and goals who may feel uncomfortable talking about them in a group setting. The adult programs can be virtual or in-person; Gilbert notes that many participants are single mothers or working long hours, so virtual sessions are easier for them to join.

“We are not certified financial advisers; we are educating people and connecting them with resources, including certified financial advisers,” Gilbert cautions. “We start slow and build trust.” How the program measures success, she says, is by answering the question, “Are we helping you with something in your financial journey that you’ve been struggling with?”

In addition to the school programs and the regular adult sessions, Women of Wealth offers membership in an entrepreneurial group and monthly drop-in webinars. The entrepreneurial group includes a hands-on activity in which participants are given Goodwill retail gift cards to spend and coaching on how to shop for and list items on Facebook Marketplace.

“It might not be something every woman is interested in doing [as a full-time business],” Gilbert says, “but [it can be] a side hustle to fund the thing you really want to do.”

Clubhouse of

Lehigh County

Christopher Stout, Goodwill Keystone director of community engagement and mental health services, has worked in human services since he graduated from college, and Clubhouse of Lehigh County is “the best service” he has ever seen.

There are 350 Clubhouses around the world, and 20 in Pennsylvania; the Clubhouse model provides a “supportive and nonjudgmental community environment where individuals with mental illnesses can come together, socialize, and work toward their personal recovery goals.” Requirements for participation in the local Clubhouse are: the person must be 18 or older, living with a mental illness, and a resident of Lehigh County. Clubhouse members do meaningful work around the house – from food preparation to administrative and financial duties to maintenance tasks – side by side with paid staff. The program supports members as they pursue vocational training, work opportunities, and appropriate housing; what is more striking is the way members support each other.

Stout tells a story about a recent Thanksgiving, when he noticed that several Clubhouse members who usually celebrate holidays at the Clubhouse had not signed up to participate. He talked to one of them, who told him that she and some other members had worked out a plan to cook and eat the Thanksgiving meal together at her home. Members building their own support network while knowing that the Clubhouse is always there for them – membership is for a lifetime – is one of the goals of the program.

Stout notes that the local Clubhouse has 10 members currently employed at the Whitehall Goodwill thrift shop, and 140 members working independently, earning $1.8 million in wages over the past year. He proudly tells the story of Erica, who become a Clubhouse member as a condition of her residential program, then thrived there and worked her way up to becoming a senior supervisor for Sodexho at Lehigh Valley Hospital Network.

People can help the Clubhouse by attending a fundraiser or by patronizing a local Goodwill store and donation center.

“One of the biggest” ways to help, though, Stout says, is “just telling people about the Clubhouse. [Many new members say], ‘I wish I had known about this place 20 years ago.’”

Goodwill Bethlehem is located at 3926 Nazareth Pike (Route 191), in the Bethlehem Square shopping center just south of Route 22. It is open for shopping (front entrance) and donations (rear) Monday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Information about the Women of Wealth program is available on the Goodwill Keystone Facebook page (facebook.com/GoodwillKeystoneArea/). Information about Clubhouse of the Lehigh Valley, including upcoming fundraising events, is available online (clubhouseoflehighcounty.org/).