History

For over 80 years, Goodwill Industries of Dallas has realized the dream of a Methodist minister from Boston, Edgar J. Helms. The roots of this dream originated in 1902, when Mr. Helms accepted the challenge to serve as a settlement worker among the poor immigrants of Boston’s South End. Inspired by compassion for people with disabilities and disadvantaging conditions, he sought a way to improve their quality of life.

Helms took a burlap sack and began traveling to the wealthier areas of the city, asking for unwanted garments and other goods. Poor men and women were then put to work at the dilapidated Morgan Memorial Chapel restoring the collected items, and learning trades and skills as they worked. Once the items were repaired, they were resold, and the money was used to pay the wages of the workers. This cycle of donating, repairing, selling, and paying wages was the beginning of Goodwill Industries -- and remains essentially intact today.

Though significant changes have occurred at Goodwill Industries of Dallas since the early days of our incorporation in 1924, our mission has remained the same: to enhance the quality of lives of people who are vocationally disadvantaged by assisting them to become productive and self-sufficient through education, training, and job opportunities.

Please join us as we reminisce about each decade of our history. We hope you enjoy the journey back through time and personally thank you for being a part of Goodwill’s history.

The 1920's

In 1923, a group of women from the Southern Methodist Church held a clothing drive as a fundraising project inside a 100 square foot settlement house on South Cockrell Street in Dallas, Texas. This project blossomed into a successful operation that was later named Goodwill Industries of Dallas.

Under the direction of Mrs. J.A. Thomas, in 1924, Goodwill Industries of Dallas employed 50 people (6 full-time), store sales were $1,000, and 600 bags of clothing were processed.

In 1930, Millard J. Heath was appointed the first Executive Director where he organized Goodwill into a thriving and efficient business. A Board of Directors was elected and Goodwill became an agency of the Community Chest (today’s United Way), which allotted Goodwill $108 per month.

On October 30, 1932, the Boy Scouts held the first Smile Day Drive. They collected bundles of clothing put out on front porches in the community, which were then taken to the central headquarters to be sorted. This project was so successful that it was adopted nationwide in over 100 Goodwill locations, and was re-named "Good Turn Day". The Good Turn Day program existed at Goodwill Industries of Dallas until 1980.

When celebrating 10 years in existence, Goodwill’s sales had grown from $1,000 to $6,971, the number of people employed from 50 to 185, and the number of bags collected from 600 to 2,383. In order to accommodate this exciting growth, Goodwill moved its operations to 2527 Elm Street, where the 10,000 square foot building rented for $50 per month.

In 1942, ordained minister and graduate of De Pauw University, Gerald L. Clore was elected as the new Executive Director. Under his direction, sales grew to $19,537, Goodwill employed 432 people, and the number of bags of clothing collected rose to 15,000. Additionally, within this decade, a milestone was crossed as the millionth dollar in employee wages was paid.

Following a disastrous fire in the early 1940’s, Goodwill rebuilt its workshops on Elm Street and annexed an adjacent 2-story building at 2507 Elm Street. Goodwill was a "one-stop-shop" for many of its clients as it provided the following services: credit union, medical and dental clinic, psychologist services, safety program, full-service cafeteria, and printing department.

Mr. Clore developed training workshops for Goodwill employees, especially in the area of refurbishing donated goods. These workshops grew to have 33 training fields including dry cleaning, upholstery, television repair, and furniture repair.

The 1950's

1950 marked the establishment of the Women’s Auxiliary at Goodwill, presided over by Ms. William Kelman. The purpose of the Auxiliary was to raise funds and publicize Goodwill in the community. The first year, they raised $2,000 through their "sunshine services": fashion shows, flower shows, teas, coffees, luncheons, and breakfasts. The funds raised were used to purchase pantry supplies, eyeglasses, scholarships for schooling and medical expenses for Goodwill clients.

Goodwill deposit boxes were introduced in 1954 as the new means of collecting donated items. These boxes both dispensed the bags in which you put your donated clothes and served as the site where you would drop off the bags for Goodwill to collect. In 1954, there were 15 collection boxes located throughout the community and by 1969, there were 255.

The 1950's

1950 marked the establishment of the Women’s Auxiliary at Goodwill, presided over by Ms. William Kelman. The purpose of the Auxiliary was to raise funds and publicize Goodwill in the community. The first year, they raised $2,000 through their "sunshine services": fashion shows, flower shows, teas, coffees, luncheons, and breakfasts. The funds raised were used to purchase pantry supplies, eyeglasses, scholarships for schooling and medical expenses for Goodwill clients.

Goodwill deposit boxes were introduced in 1954 as the new means of collecting donated items. These boxes both dispensed the bags in which you put your donated clothes and served as the site where you would drop off the bags for Goodwill to collect. In 1954, there were 15 collection boxes located throughout the community and by 1969, there were 255.

The 1960's

1962 was the first million dollar sales year for the organization and Goodwill Industries was beginning to feel its growing pains. Together with Clore, 550 community volunteers, and the Auxiliary, the Board kicked off the $1 million "Accent On People" capital campaign. The employees themselves contributed $49,000 and at the end of the campaign, over 1,200 gifts had been received and the goal of $1 million had been superseded. In 1968, the construction of the new 133,000 square foot facility at Hampton Road and Singleton Boulevard was completed. The facility included a chapel, diagnostic and testing center, board rooms, classrooms, sheltered workshops, retail store, offices, and full-service cafeteria.

After many years of service, Gerald Clore resigned and Marvin L. McPheron became the new Executive Director. One of McPheron’s most significant contributions to Goodwill was his development of a comprehensive federally funded rehabilitation program. This program became the largest vocational rehabilitation workshop in the Southwest and provided counseling, work adjustment training, personality adjustment training, and on-the-job training.

The 1970s

After Marvin L. McPheron’s death in 1974, Fred Sherman was named Executive Director. Sherman was credited with the development of the Sub-contracting Department (now known as Industrial Contracts) to employ the most severely disabled. Sub-contracting services included packaging, collating, assembly and shrink wrapping.

Formerly known as the Women’s Auxiliary, Goodwill Industries Volunteer Services (GIVS) was established to raise funds, to acquaint the women of Dallas with the work and needs of Goodwill, and to work with and for employees of Goodwill. A special project of GIVS was the Charm and Personal Development Class conducted weekly. Informal sessions in make-up, personal appearance, good work attitudes, and outlook on life in general added much to the lives of Goodwill’s women employees.

In 1979, the new Person-to-Person Attended Collection Center concept was implemented to replace collection boxes. A publicity campaign was established to promote the new program and the slogan, "Goodwill...Pass It On" was created. Collection Centers were open 7 days a week, and 23 trailers were located throughout Dallas. The move to this concept was made because the trailer holds 10 times more than the deposit boxes, donated items are more carefully handled, donors receive a tax receipt, and most importantly, the attendant position provides a job opportunity for a disabled individual.

Anticipating Fred Sherman’s retirement, Rodney K. Ginther was hired in July of 1980 to be Assistant Executive Director. By February 1, 1982, Rod Ginther was named President of Goodwill. Fred Sherman continued to play an active role at Goodwill in his pre-retirement years in a new position as Director of Development.

Upon Ginther’s arrival at Goodwill, many changes were made in an effort to streamline the organization while maintaining an eye on the key mission of Goodwill. Inefficient and costly operations were eliminated to make room for new expansions such as adding janitorial and groundskeeping services to the Industrial Contracts department.

These changes positively impacted the organization, as sales doubled from $3.3 million in 1980 to $6.5 million in 1989.

The 2000's

In 1968, when Goodwill moved to its 133,000 square foot facility, no one would have predicted the tremendous surge in demand for services which have driven Goodwill’s tremendous growth in operations. In November 2000, construction began to build a new 270,000 square-foot facility in West Dallas that would not only enable Goodwill to triple the number of people served, but would provide the flexibility to grow operations to meet future demands.

The $17.7 million project, of which $10 million was raised through private contributions, infused much-needed resources into the redevelopment and revitalization of the low-income West Dallas community. Goodwill moved to its new facility in May of 2002.

The facility is named The Collins Family Center and is located on the Edmund M. and Adelyn Hoffman Campus.

Based on the tremendous success the organization has had in its first 80 years of existence, the future of Goodwill Industries of Dallas is a bright and promising one. It’s history proves that Goodwill is great at salvaging, reclaiming, and recycling...and we’re just talking about people’s lives.