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"Everyone may and can live abundantly. The business of life is to live and live well and adequately and abundantly."
-- E. Stanley Jones

APPRECIATION

To the members of the boards of directors, the executives and staff members of local Goodwill Industries who have given most devoted service during the past year; and to all persons everywhere who have given of their means, their materials, their service and their interest toward the development of the Goodwill Industries way of helping handicapped and disabled persons to live usefully, adequately and abundantly, the National Association of Goodwill Industries extends its most sincere appreciation.

Oliver A. Friedman,
Executive Secretary

Forty Years of Service...

THE Past is the Prologue. This inscription on the Archives Building in the Nation's Capitol would be in place over the door of any enterprise. It could well be the last thought of every person at the close of each day. These five words have special meaning in Goodwill Industries as the service of the past year is reviewed in terms of statistics, financial reports, and operations generally. They have very special significance as developments of the past year and the forty years of Goodwill Industries' service prior to that time are related to current events and the challenging responsibilities facing these enterprises at this time.

From Relief To Rehabilitation

Goodwill Industries had their beginning when Dr. E. J. Helms, the pastor of Morgan Chapel in the south end of Boston, decided that if disadvantaged persons were to be inspired to live the Christian way of life, it was essential that they have the opportunity to make a living. As he developed the self-help service program, providing work and wages for disadvantaged persons, he never lost sight of the fact that the business of teaching men and women to make a living, while most important, was incidental to teaching them how to live. Not only how to live but how to live the Christian way of life -- a way of life that would result in the maximum of self-development, an appreciation of their responsibility to their fellowmen, and an understanding of the love of God.

Since the early days, Goodwill Industries have been alert to the constantly changing economic and social conditions in their communities. Their emphasis in service has moved from relief for the destitute -- to work relief for those seeking "not charity, but a chance" -- to rehabilitation and a maximum opportunity for useful work for the handicapped and disabled. As the whole community, through tax-supported agencies, has accepted responsibility for meeting problems occasioned by economic maladjustment, as agencies in various fields of community service have enlarged their programs and perfected skills to more effectively serve disadvantaged persons. Goodwill Industries have increasingly directed their attention to the development of rehabilitation, self-help, and employment services for handicapped persons.

Enterprises Increase Efficiency

Through these same years, Goodwill Industries have increased the efficiency of their operations and have improved the quality of their products. They have woven the new skills and techniques in the fields of human engineering into the service programs of their enterprises, and through all of this have observed the primacy of human and spiritual values.

These pages present certain statistics, service figures, and financial statements of local enterprises. But this report is more than a record of tangible evidence of intangible service to thousands of handicapped persons. It is a statement directed to the members of the boards of directors, the executives, and staff members of local Goodwill Industries, and to leaders in the fields of religion, rehabilitation, and social service, who believe in the Goodwill way of helping handicapped and disabled persons to help themselves. It is, in a real sense, a reflection of the experience of the years in the Goodwill movement as a whole.

Adopt New Policies And Goals

The various paragraphs represent adopted policies and goals. They record activities to be found in some Goodwill Industries which should be extended to all, and activities found in all Goodwill Industries which should be enlarged so as to make self-help opportunities available to larger numbers of handicapped persons in their communities.

It will be well for every person interested in Goodwill Industries to review activities of the particular local Goodwill with which he is affiliated or acquainted against this composite pattern, and then assist that enterprise in its larger development.

Goodwill Industries are locally autonomous philanthropic organizations conducted, not for profit, but for the purpose of providing remunerative employment, occupational training, rehabilitation service, and opportunities for personal growth for physically, mentally, and socially handicapped persons. They are incorporated under the laws of their respective states and are governed by boards of directors composed of representative citizens of the local communities.