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Among local supporters -- whose investment of time and effort helps produce the dividends of Goodwill -- also are the Women's Auxiliaries. These women's groups contribute to the promotion and support of Goodwill programs.

Nationally, the Goodwill units are brought together by two organizations. One is the National Association of Goodwill Industries, which was incorporated in 1910 and in 1933 became the principal coordinating organization.

Providing a link between the local Goodwills and the Methodist Church, which sponsored the development of the Goodwill movement, is the Department of Goodwill Industries of the Division of Home Missions and Church Extension of that denomination. Through the Department has come financial aid in excess of one million dollars with which to extend Goodwills in many cities, and spiritual inspiration which has guided the rehabilitation program for less fortunate people.

In addition to these two national groups the women's organizations associated with local Goodwill Industries are brought together nationally in the National Women's Auxiliary to Goodwill Industries.

The many people who have made financial donations to local Goodwill Industries and for national development have contributed in large measure toward producing the many-fold dividends. In many cities. Goodwill Industries receive funds from Community Chests, which means that the people of the whole community have shared in the investment.

The general returns from investments in Goodwill -- the dividends in human rehabilitation and community service -- have been reported in this section. Dividends of Goodwill mean many things. In the section to follow, some of the specific material dividends will be related.

. . .Materials of Life. . .

THE material dividends of Goodwill originate in the raw material of household discards. The utilization of this raw material provides employment and wages. In return, the reconditioned and rebuilt goods are made available to society for another life of usefulness.

Each day trucks in the Goodwill fleets call at homes to answer telephone requests to pick up material. In 1943, for instance, all the Goodwill trucks in the country made nearly two million calls. They picked up over a million and a half bags of clothing, two million bags of paper, over three quarters of a million pieces of furniture and hundreds of thousands of pieces of other material. To the Goodwill unloading docks come broken chairs, soiled clothes, old shoes, battered toys, rusty stoves, and many other items.

The change from their condition upon arrival to the time they reappear for sale on the floor of a Goodwill store often is little short of miraculous. Sometimes an old davenport, for instance, recovered and refinished, hardly could be told from new. Clothing is thoroughly cleaned, repaired, and pressed until it looks no different than that hanging in the average person's closet. Reconditioned shoes closely resemble the ones people get back from shoe repair shops.

This change in appearance means, of course, that there must be a great variety of skilled workers in a Goodwill plant. Each plant is divided into departments, including furniture, stoves, toys, painting, wood-working, clothing, shoes, and others.

The very fact that handicapped people recondition the articles implies a dividend of Goodwill. The materials are not merely old clothes or old furniture. Experience and training in crafts and trades come from the reconditioning process, so that the materials are a means of self-help in a better life. Because of the discards, handicapped people can learn useful occupations.

The handicapped people who repair the items become artisans and craftsmen. They learn to use minds as well as hands. They learn patience and skill which can come only under such circumstances as fitting pieces of half a dozen discarded bicycles into one new one.

Making discarded goods available for reuse provides dividends for the community in which a Goodwill Industries is located. Low income families have been the principal customers, since goods are sold at reasonable prices. Other people, seeking inexpensive goods for odd use or to furnish cottages have found Goodwill stores an ideal place to shop.

Goodwill stores have been able to offer special service to their communities because of wartime shortages. Many household items made scarce or unavailable can be purchased in Goodwill stores, although such items are quickly sold.

A Goodwill Industries, as the name implies, is in a real sense a business institution as well as service agency. It operates as a business -- depending upon collections for its raw material, skilled work from employees and income from its sales. Naturally, however, it cannot employ normal industrial practices, since handicapped workers do not produce as quickly as others who are not handicapped. For this reason not all Goodwill Industries are self-supporting and many depend upon Community Chest funds or donations to make up balances. On a national average, the Industries are about 85% self-supporting.