Goodwill holds groundbreaking ceremony
It was a windy Tuesday afternoon, but that didn’t stop members of Goodwill Industries of Michiana and members of Plymouth celebrating the groundbreaking ceremony of Goodwill’s future Plymouth Campus.
“We are just so excited to finally be breaking ground in Plymouth,” said Debie Coble, president and CEO of Goodwill Industries of Michiana. according to Coble, five years ago they had looked at the location between arby’s and Rue 21 in Pilgrim’s Place Shopping Center on U.S. 30, but the timing wasn’t right. a year ago, they looked at the location again and found that the timing was right this time.
“Goodwill is more than a store,” said Coble. “The store is how we fund so many of our services. We really are about strengthening the communities where we are at, helping individuals and families that have barriers to overcome those barriers, bringing the education and skills training, and then finding the jobs that will allow them and their families to live their life most abundantly.”
She went on to say that Goodwill already provides services to Marshall County. They serve youths at risk of not graduating. “We had a 95% graduation rate for those kids, and so we work with them to help them get on that right path.”
Goodwill also works with the 16-24 year olds that have dropped out of school, or have completed school but have gotten on the wrong path. They also help those that have recently been released from prison to get acclimated back into the community.
“One of the wonderful things about this store is we are going to have a Community Career Center,” said Coble. “and what we’ll allow that to be for the community is a place for employers to make connections with potential employees. We will do digital skills training. We will offer assistance for people who need to get their resumes done. For people who have had jobs for twenty years and they find themselves needing new employment, who probably haven’t filled an online application out, so we’re going to walk them through with that.”
The construction project will bring 25 new jobs to the Plymouth area and
economic growth for the community. Goodwill’s Campus will also feature a Retail Store and Attended Donation Drive-thru.
City of Plymouth Mayor Mark Senter remarked that he was excited and happy about this project. “It’s another beautiful day in Plymouth, Indiana…i’m glad that Goodwill’s here.”
The mayor met Guy Fisher, vice president of mission advancement for Goodwill Industries of Michiana, prior to Tuesday. Fisher explained to Mayor Senter about the project. “The training aspect of it is just amazing to me. Plymouth really looks forward to that. So, we want to be a good partner with Goodwill and hopefully we can get some stuff done.”