Goodwill Industries was founded in Boston in 1902 by the Reverend Edgar Helms as an employment and readiness program. Helms put people to work by training them to gather, repair, and sell unwanted goods. This gave birth to Goodwill's philosophy of "A hand up, not a hand out."
Today, Goodwill Industries International, Inc. is the world's largest not-for-profit provider of employment and work readiness training. More than 846,000 people benefited from Goodwill's programs in 2005, and 129,899 people were placed in good jobs outside Goodwill.
Memphis Goodwill Industries, Inc. was organized in June 1923, by the Board of Home Missions of the Southern Methodist Church and was incorporated on February 20, 1941. Our Mission has continued to follow “Not Charity but a Chance”.
Today the mission is to build communities by connecting people to good jobs, good homes, and good neighborhoods leading to healthy communities.
