NONPROFITS

Jacksonville-based Goodwill brings back 'friend-raising' fashion show to support employment programs

Beth Reese Cravey
Florida Times-Union
Rey

In February 2020, David Rey was named the new CEO of Goodwill Industries of North Florida after eight years as the Jacksonville-based nonprofit‘s chief financial officer.

Then the world shut down as the COVID-19 pandemic took hold.

"It was certainly a challenge," he said. "There was no map of how to navigate a pandemic, so thankfully I knew the team I had working with me and knew I could rely on our group to help make critical decisions."

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Goodwill provides job training, employment placement services and other community-based programs. Rey's first pandemic priority was his employees who work in retail, warehouse, e-commerce, landscaping, support and food service jobs.

"My first thought was keeping our employees safe, particularly those working in our retail stores and donation centers who were out there interfacing with the general public," he said. "I guess you could say I used employee health and safety as my North Star in all this, and everything sort of fell in place after that."

Seventeen months later, Rey decided to bring back — sort of — Striving to Succeed, Goodwill's popular annual celebrity fashion show that typically has an in-person audience of 600. This year the show will go on virtually, streamed at 12:30 p.m. Thursday via the nonprofit's Facebook and broadcast on WJXT TV-4.

"Our striving to succeed event is not intended for fundraising, rather it is a 'friend-raising' event," he said. "We only ask the community to support our organization by donating their gently used items, which we turn into employment opportunities and funds for our additional mission programs."

The 30-minute program will feature stylist Argie Mitra dressing fashion show participants in "finds'" from Goodwill stores and providing thrift-shopping tips, according to the nonprofit. The program also will feature the stories of Goodwill achievers.

One of the celebrities is Eden Kendall of WJXT TV-4's daily talk show, "River City Live." In a promotional video for the event, she said, "Even when I'm on TV, I want to be comfortable. I'm a thrifter. I go to Goodwill all the time."

The event will bring some joy to Goodwill after a rough year that saw the temporary closure of its stores in 14 counties.

"This was a tough call, but it was the right call to protect our team members and our customers," Rey said.

Still, people kept coming to Goodwill's donation stores, closed or not.

"If you remember, people in lockdown were purging closets and houses in huge numbers, and we still had donors dropping things off and leaving them outside the doors since we were closed," Rey said.

So the North Florida office's executive team and a few staff members personally drove store to store to "bring in those donations so they weren’t looted or didn’t become an eyesore in our neighborhoods," he said.

Like many nonprofits, revenues dropped as fundraising events were canceled and potential donors suffered their own economic crises. Goodwill's 2020 operating revenue dropped about $4 million, almost 11 percent, compared to 2019, Rey said.

But a surprise $10 million gift from philanthropist Mackenzie Scott, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’ ex-wife, helped stabilize the budget. She gave a total of $4 billion to 384 nonprofits across the country, including three in Northeast Florida.

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"It would have been a game changer at any time, but to receive it in the middle of an unprecedented global pandemic was especially humbling," Rey said. "It allowed us to continue our mission of breaking down barriers to employment in our community. We are committed to being good stewards of that unexpected gift and all our gifts that go toward fueling our services and programs."

Some programs continued virtually, including A-STEP, which provides about 150 working adults access to higher education to build their earning potential and job security, and Goodwill's work providing mentoring and scholarships for about 400 students in the Take Stock In Children program.

Goodwill's stores reopened in June on a staggered plan, offering new employment opportunities for clients. Also, in 2020 two new retail stores opened.

CEO David Rey shows off Goodwill Industries of North Florida's laundry facility that operates at the corporate office on Lenox Avenue in Jacksonville.

"Recovery is — thankfully — strong," Rey said. "With our experienced leadership, we were able to manage our cash flow extremely well and continue to offer employment opportunities, training and education services.

"We are focused on growing our social enterprise bringing additional employment and education opportunities to our community," he said.

During the pandemic, Rey "kept a level head and made common sense decisions, always measuring them against safety first," said Nathaniel Ford, Goodwill board chairman. "We knew he was a solid leader when we selected him for the job, but facing a totally unprecedented challenge like the pandemic was the definition of trial by fire.

"Goodwill not only stayed afloat, but managed to keep expanding with new stores and creating a new virtual format for our annual Striving to Succeed. It was born from necessity and safety, but the virtual format takes this event to a whole new level," Ford said. 

Goodwill currently employs about 850 people. By the end of the year there will be about 150 adults in the A-STEP program and at least 400 students in the Take Stock program. Also, staff hope to employ about 150 students in a summer internship program through the Mayor's Youth at Work Partnership, teaming with Kids Hope Alliance and VyStar.

"It is an honor to lead such an amazing organization with people that care about the community and advancing the lives of others," Rey said.

bcravey@jacksonville.com, (904) 359-4109

GOODWILL INDUSTRIES OF NORTH FLORIDA    

Striving to Succeed, the nonprofit's annual fundraiser and celebrity fashion show, will be streamed virtually 12:30 to 1 p.m. Thursday via the organization’s Facebook page, facebook.com/GoodwillNFL. The show also will be broadcast on WJXT TV-4. To donate online or get more information, go to goodwilljax.org. To contact Goodwill, call (904) 384-1361 or go to 4527 Lenox Ave., Jacksonville, FL 32205.