For more than 100 years, Goodwill Industries International has lived up to its good name. It has operated drop-off centers and retail stores throughout the nation.

In 1902, the Rev. Edgar J. Helms, a Methodist minister, had an idea to collect used household goods and clothing in the wealthier areas of the city. He then trained and hired the poor to mend and repair the used goods, which were then resold or given to the people who repaired them.

Helms called the philosophy of Goodwill Industries as “a hand up, not a hand out.”

The idea grew.

The basic idea still goes strong today. Goodwill Industries has become a $3.2 billion nonprofit organization.

Goodwill of Southwestern Pennsylvania covers eight counties, including Westmoreland and Fayette, with a total of 19 stores. It is not considered a chapter of Goodwill Industries but is separately incorporated. It has its own board of directors. It’s headquartered in Pittsburgh.

“We provide work for folks who need it,” said David Tobiczyk, vice president of marketing and development with Goodwill of Southwestern Pennsylvania.

Goodwill is the leading nonprofit provider of job training programs and career services in North America.

In the Southwestern Pennsylvania region, Tobiczyk said approximately 1,000 people are employed. In 2008, Goodwill helped nearly 2,000 people get jobs.

To pay for its employment programs, Goodwill sells donated clothes and other household items in more than 2,200 retail stores in the United States and Canada and online at www.shopgoodwill.com, which happens to be the only Internet nonprofit auction site.

Eighty-four percent of the revenues are used to fund job training programs for people with disabilities, people with a lack of education or work experience, and other job seekers.

The two retail sites in the Fay-West region are located in Uniontown and Mt. Pleasant.

Christy May is the manager of the Uniontown Goodwill retail store located near the Uniontown Mall. That store opened in 1998. Before that, it was located on Connellsville Street. Goodwill has operated in Uniontown for 25 years.

Each retail store has a drop-off point. May said these drop-off points get a lot of use.

“Every day, every hour, every half-hour,” May said.

The first thing employees do is separate items in different bins. The electronics are tested for safety and function and the clothes are inspected for stains and other faults. Employees tag sizes on clothing and get them ready for sale.

“In one week, we put out about 7,000 new pieces of clothing,” May said.

One piece of clothing can be donated, inspected, tagged, and hung and out on the floor and even sold all on the same day.

May said the Uniontown store gets between 180 to 240 customers per day.

“A lot of customers really like our store,” May said. In fact, she has been seeing new faces recently. She said rising prices have caused people to go to Goodwill and save some money.

The Uniontown store has 15 percent off items every day for people who are aged 55 and older.

The store sells refurbished mattresses.

“There’s such a demand for the mattresses,” said Peg Sirianni, on-duty manager at the Goodwill retail store in Mt. Pleasant.

The Mt. Pleasant location, which brings in 200 people a day on average and nearly 120 people every Sunday, was established in 2001.

While the mattress sales are big for the Goodwill retail store, the clothes rein supreme in donations and sales.

“Clothing is big,” Sirianni said. “Women’s clothes are the number-one selling category. Children’s clothing comes in second, and men’s clothing sales and donations come in last.”

Sirianni said while men normally wear clothes until they are worn out. Women, however, are always looking for new outfits and donating their old ones. A growing child may wear clothes once or twice and then they’re too big for them.

Sirianni said there are new clothes on the floor ready for sale every 15 minutes. The store puts out 1,000 to 1,500 new pieces of clothes a day and between 10 and 20 shopping carts full of housewares every day.

At all Goodwill retail stores, clothing items are separated my men, women and children as well as sizes.

“People like that,” Sirianni said. “They don’t have to go row to row to find a certain size.”

The Goodwill stores had tried to sell new, inexpensive items — or dollar items. Poor sales stopped that practice.

“The donated items are still our strength,” Tobiczyk said.

Goodwill stores also sell housewares, books and CDs. There is a seven-day return policy.

In 2007, Goodwill Industries had 65.4 million donors and re-donors.

To find a Goodwill store, go to www.goodwill.org or call 800-741-0197.

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