Update from Dan — June 2020

Every year, Goodwill Northern Michigan holds a Gather for Good event to thank our community. Dan began this year’s event by offering thanks to the employees, donors, volunteers, partners and shoppers who support Goodwill Northern Michigan. We wanted to share Dan's opening remarks with you. We also heard a great speech from Iain de Jong, an internationally-known advocate for people experiencing homelessness, and gave awards to the Founders of Food Rescue and to Tina Allen of the Coalition to End Homelessness. You can watch a recording of the entire event here.

Dan Buron Comments at Gather for Good, Virtually

As we gather today, our country and our community are facing unprecedented challenges — and I am reminded of the reasons why Goodwill exists. Reverend Edgar Helms founded Goodwill in 1902 because he believed in equity and equality. He went door to door in Boston, collecting used items that could be recycled and resold for the benefit of neighbors in need. From its beginnings, Goodwill has prioritized humanity.

At Goodwill in Northern Michigan, we’re carrying on this mission to help some of our most vulnerable neighbors. In 1986, we saw a community need to serve people experiencing homelessness, and we didn’t hesitate to begin our journey to end homelessness in our region. In 2008, the Founders of Food Rescue offered an opportunity to help reduce food waste while reducing hunger in our community, and we didn’t hesitate. In 2020, COVID-19 shut down our stores and cut our revenues by 70% overnight, but we didn’t hesitate to continue and even increase our essential services. We are one of the only Goodwills in the country that continued its services during COVID-19.

During the pandemic, our community’s needs changed, and we adjusted to meet them, forming new partnerships and expanding services. Disruption in the food supply chain challenged our distribution system. Our homeless response system was strained as we worked to support individuals and families during COVID-19 when they had no home to go to.

Today at the Goodwill Inn, we are providing shelter and food for 65 individuals and 11 families. Through Street Outreach, we are supporting 90 people experiencing unsheltered homelessness and 20 immunocompromised individuals in motels. In partnership with Safe Harbor, we are operating a drop-in day center that offers laundry, showers, phone charging and health information. Always, our focus remains on Housing First. In partnership with the Coalition to End Homeless, 9 individuals and families have secured permanent housing, even during the pandemic.

Food Rescue is rescuing over $70,000 worth of food each week and delivering it to pantries and meal sites across the five-county region. In partnership with the Area Agency on Aging, farmers, Groundwork and the Food Coalition, we’re leveraging our distribution system to get additional, nutritious food to people who need it. At Meal Services we’re providing 6,000 meals a week. And an incredible team of volunteers is delivering meals to people experiencing unsheltered homelessness and to students whose families do not have transportation.

Our employees have really stepped up. During a time when confusion reigned and uncertainty prevailed, they were there. Many worked long hours, often taking on new responsibilities as we re-aligned our organization for the new reality. Shutting the thrift stores down and reopening them with new policies and procedures placed stress on our staff. We had more questions than we had answers, but our team hung in there and served. I am grateful to our team members.

We also asked the community for support, and the community answered. Over 600 individuals, businesses and foundations donated in amounts from $5 to $50,000 to help us reach our goal for pandemic support. For all of our generous donors and sponsors -- from the Community Foundation’s Essential Needs Fund to the Community Impact Investing program at Rotary Charities to the donors who dropped off handsewn masks pinned with notes of encouragement -- we are so grateful.

We are grateful for the thrift shoppers who are returning to shop safely in our stores and support our mission services. We are grateful to the donors of used items who make our social enterprise possible.

We did not do this alone. We needed all of you. To our donors, partners, volunteers and team members, to our entire community — we want to say THANK YOU.

Together we are living through a time of great change. We are seeing more clearly than ever the glaring disparities between black and white, between wealthy and poor. We know that our journey is not done. We look forward to working with all of you to create a stronger, more just community for everyone.

Dan Buron
June 10, 2020

Goodwill Northern Michigan's annual event to thank the community was held online on June 10, 2020. Gather for Good, Virtually features a keynote from Iain...