DiscoverGoodwillCars.com

"Your donations change lives"

Proudly serving Manatee, Sarasota, Desoto, and Hardee counties - FL

Goodwill Industries Manasota is an industry-leading, not-for-profit business that turns donations into good jobs, good homes and good neighborhoods.

The national movement of Goodwill began in 1902 in Boston, in the basement of a Methodist Church. The Reverend Edgar Helms first thought he wanted to give clothing collected from his wealthy parishioners to the poor, unemployable of Boston. But upon reflection decided to ask them to work repairing the clothing for sale. Thus began the concept of a hand up, not a hand out.

In 1982, Goodwill of the Suncoast (Tampa) created several autonomous Goodwills, one of which was Goodwill Industries-Manasota, Inc. (GIM). Along with vocational rehab and work adjustment programs, GIM relied upon its network of stores full of goods donated by the public to fund its services. In the late 1980s, GIM was in the forefront of the movement to move people from sheltered employment to mainstream jobs. In the early 1990s, GIM created the Job Connection which was the first self-funded program for people in the community. Thousands of people have found employment through GIM’s Job Connection and many other Goodwills across the country have followed suit with their own programs.