Goodwill® Announces Seven Days of Spring Cleaning

One-Week Guide to Donating While Cleaning Helps Fund Job Training

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Mar 19, 2014, 08:00 ET

ROCKVILLE, Md., March 19, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- More than 70 percent of Americans engage in the annual tradition of spring cleaning, according to a 2013 survey by the American Cleaning Institute. But one of the most common dilemmas for spring cleaners is what to do with all their unneeded stuff. As the green movement grows, consumers are increasingly concerned about reusing and recycling.

Goodwill Industries International is calling on communities to donate items that they used to love during this spring cleaning season. Local Goodwill^® agencies collect used clothes and household goods and then use the revenues from sales to fund job training programs and community-based services. These services help job seekers with skills and search tools like résumé writing and job interview practice. By donating household goods, spring cleaners can help their neighbors who are unemployed or underemployed get off to a fresh start.

"When your spring cleaning ends with a donation to Goodwill, you not only extend the lifecycle of goods but you help fund Goodwill's employment programs that create jobs and strengthen families and your community," said Jim Gibbons, Goodwill Industries International president and CEO. "Thanks to the programs made possible by donations, more than 216,000 people earned jobs last year. That means one person earned a job every 33 seconds of every business day."

This season, Goodwill compiled a Seven Days of Spring Cleaning Guide, which provides suggestions on specific items that can be donated this year. Using Goodwill's guide, consumers are encouraged to clean just one part of their house each day and find things to donate for seven consecutive days during this spring season which begins on March 20. Examples include:

Day 1: In honor of St. Patrick's Day, before you put on that green sweater, go through your closet and remove any clothing you no longer wear. Donate it to Goodwill. Here's a good rule: if you haven't worn it in the last 365 days, you probably don't need it!

Day 2: As you're cooking dinner, take 15 minutes to go through your kitchen cabinets and find things you don't use. Goodwill accepts used kitchenware items and household goods.

At the end of the week, consumers are encouraged to visit goodwill.org to calculate just how much of an impact their donations will have for people in their local communities.

"Spring cleaning is often one of the most daunting tasks of the year," Evette Rios, Goodwill spokesperson and host of CBS' "Recipe Rehab" said. "At Goodwill, our goal is to not only make spring cleaning a fun activity for the whole family, but also to help people realize the positive impact their Goodwill donations have on their neighbors' lives."

Visit goodwill.org to find the nearest Goodwill store and donation center.

About Goodwill Industries International
Goodwill Industries International is a network of 165 community-based agencies in the United States and Canada with affiliates in 14 other countries. 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 2,700 stores and online at shopgoodwill.com^®. Goodwill also builds revenue and creates jobs by contracting with businesses and government agencies to provide a wide range of commercial services, including packaging and assembly, food service preparation, and document imaging and shredding. In 2012, more than 6.7 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. Follow us on Twitter:@GoodwillIntl, and find us on Facebook: GoodwillIntl.

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SOURCE Goodwill Industries International