Alabama Goodwill Industries

Alabama Goodwill Industries (AGI) is a non-profit organization that works to overcome barriers to employment for disadvantaged and disabled persons. It provides opportunities primarily through the operation of thrift stores and donation centers, the proceeds from which fund its programs, which include community and school-based workshops and a staffing service. Its offices are located at 2350 Green Springs Highway. The CEO is David Wells.

The national organization was founded in Boston, Massachusetts in 1902 by Edgar Helms, who provided an opportunity for unemployed workers to support themselves by repairing discarded household items. The plan was touted as, "a hand up, not a hand out", and spread across the country. Alabama Goodwill Industries wad founded in 1927 with the establishment of a wood-chopping workshop.

In the 1940s the local organization began collecting and repairing household appliances and opened its first thrift stores to sell them, including one in downtown Birmingham at 2204 2nd Avenue North. Soon the group began collecting used clothing and other household goods, and expanded into furniture repair and greenhouse gardening in the 1950s. In 1966 AGI opened a new headquarters office in Ensley.

A bequest from Morris Gluck helped Alabama Goodwill expand its operations to Huntsville and Gadsden in the 1970s. The organization opened a "Skills Center" (now the Goodwill Career Center) in 1982. That program, along with AGI's offices and a flagship thrift store moved to the current building on Green Springs Highway in 1985.

In 1998 Alabama Goodwill Industries earned accreditation from the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF) and in 1990 it entered into a long-term contract with National Industries for the Severely Handicapped (NISH) of Vienna, Virginia (now SourceAmerica).

Thrift stores

• 163 North Brindlee Mountain Parkway, Arab
• 613 U.S. Highway 72 West, Athens
• 2350 Green Springs Highway, Birmingham
• 5287 U.S. Highway 280, Birmingham
• 1342 U.S. Highway 431, Boaz
• Center Point Shopping Center, Center Point
• 1465 Sunset Drive, Guntersville
• 8501 Whitesburg Drive, Huntsville
• 7105
• 110 Sutton Bridge Road, Rainbow City
• 305 E. Willow Street, Scottsboro
• 1140 Veterans Memorial Parkway, Tuscaloosa

Donation centers

• 8171 U.S. Highway 431, Albertville
• 4704 Cahaba River Road, Birmingham
• Lakeshore Pavilion, Birmingham
• 5113 Oporto Madrid Boulevard, Birmingham
• 2934 Point Mallard Parkway, Decatur
• 6215 Tattersall Boulevard, Hoover
• 300 Hughes Road, Madison
• 11212 County Line Road, Madison
• 3310 Pelham Parkway, Pelham
• 1920 U.S. Highway 31, Pelham
• 1808 Gadsden Highway, Trussville
• 1209 McFarland Boulevard, Tuscaloosa
• 1101 Southview Lane, Tuscaloosa
• Market Square, Vestavia Hills

External links

• Alabama Goodwill Industries website