Goodwill Industries of Southwest Florida Honored with Goodwill® Advocacy Leader Award

NORTH FORT MYERS, Fla. - June 12, 2013 - PRLog -- Goodwill Industries of Southwest Florida has been honored with a 2013 Advocacy Leader Award from Goodwill Industries International. The award recognizes a Goodwill® agency that has demonstrated leadership and commitment to advancing Goodwill’s advocacy and policy efforts to further its mission of helping people secure employment and build stronger communities.

President and CEO Tom Feurig has placed a priority on relationship-building and regularly invites policymakers to tour the agency’s operations including mission services, donated goods retail and contracts. State Senate Majority Leader Lizbeth Benacquisto (R-30) met with Feurig in August and toured the administrative offices, a Job-Link site, a retail store, the L.I.F.E. Academy charter school for students with developmental disabilities and Hatton B. Rogers Retirement Community. She returned in October with three of her staff members to volunteer at the Goodwill’s Trailways Camp, a sleep-over camp for adults with disabilities.

Staff members from the offices of U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio and U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson also met with Goodwill staff to learn about the many ways that Goodwill strengthens families and communities.

“Tom and his staff have done an excellent job of keeping Goodwill’s mission on policymakers’ radar,” said Jim Gibbons, president and CEO of Goodwill Industries International. “Site visits paint a vivid picture of the Goodwill’s successful business and mission services model. They are to be commended for their diligence in advocating for policies that affect the people Goodwill serves.”

The award was presented at a May 15 reception in Washington, DC. The reception was part of Goodwill Industries International’s seventh annual Advocacy Day – “Designing Goodwill into the Future.”

About Goodwill Industries of Southwest Florida:

Goodwill Industries of Southwest Florida, Inc. provides programs and services to help people with disabilities and disadvantages overcome their barriers to independence. Supported programs include Goodwill Job-Link centers, disability-accessible housing, and the Southwest Florida MicroEnterprise Institute. For more information visit www.GoodwillSWFL.org.

About Goodwill Industries International:
Goodwill Industries International is a network of 165 community-based agencies in the United States and Canada with 14 affiliates in 13 other countries. Goodwill is one of Forbes’ top 25 most inspiring companies. (Forbes, 2012) Goodwill agencies are innovative and sustainable social enterprises that fund job training programs, employment placement services and other community-based programs by selling donated clothing and household items in more than 2,800 stores and online at shopgoodwill.com. Local Goodwill agencies also build revenue and create jobs by contracting with businesses and government to provide a wide range of commercial services, including packaging and assembly, food service preparation, and document imaging and shredding. In 2012, more than four million people in the United States and Canada benefited from Goodwill's career services. Goodwill channels 82 percent of its revenues directly into its programs and services. To find a Goodwill location near you, use the online locator at www.goodwill.org, or call (800) GOODWILL. Find us on Facebook: GoodwillIntl or follow us on Twitter: @GoodwillCapHill, @GoodwillIntl (http://twitter.com/#!/GoodwillIntl).