Goodwill Holds Ribbon-Cutting Ceremony for Eastchester Donation Center

Westchester County residents have an all-new way of giving back to their communities and to those in need as of this week, as Goodwill Industries of Greater New York and Northern New Jersey Inc. opened the doors to its brand new attended donation center, , in the heart of Eastchester at a ribbon-cutting ceremony Tuesday morning.

DonationXpress, located at 19 Mill Road, is the first fully staffed donation center of its kind in Goodwill’s region, and will be open to the public seven days a week from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. The center will accept all types of donations, from clothing and electronics, to books, bags and shoes. Donated items will be sorted, priced and sold in local Goodwill locations, with 93 cents of every dollar raised going towards the Goodwill mission.

Goodwill’s new DonationXpress location will be staffed by individuals from Westchester-based Goodwill employment programs for persons with disabilities , which is only one of the many ways Goodwill seeks to support and aid what Chief of Staff Pat DelToro Heck called our communities’ most vulnerable members.

“Our core mission has always been to help people who are disabled and in need,” DelToro Heck told Patch at Tuesday’s ribbon-cutting ceremony. “There are so many barriers for these people, and they often aren’t given a chance. That is something Goodwill has realized from the outset, and has made every effort, with training, with placement opportunities, and with ensuring that they receive the appropriate accommodations to make sure they have every chance of success.”

As a company, Goodwill also employs individuals with autism, recent immigrants and refugees, at-risk youths and individuals without homes. Eastchester’s DonationXpress location will also serve as a training site for individuals from Goodwills’ disability programs to get work experience prior to placement. In addition, the donation center will host employment seminars in the future, including resume building and job search classes.

In 2010, Goodwill served over 164,000 individuals in need and put 14,000 of those people to work, something Goodwill CEO and President William Forrester says would not have been possible without the support and generous donations of local residents.

“We know that this is a down economy,” Forrester said. “Government funding is not what it used to be, and the private sector is beseeched for philanthropy from many non-for-profits. We need the support of the public to support our retail operations. Every bag, every coat, every piece of apparel is a link in a chain. We’re very strong stewards of the resources we get here, whether it’s a donation or donated goods. Whatever comes in is sold and helps us support our mission.”

DonationXpress also represents a fast and cost-efficient way for local residents to get rid of household objects and clothing they no longer need, as donors will receive a tax receipt for each one of their donations. There are already a number of Goodwill stores in the Westchester area, including one in New Rochelle, Elmsford, Somers and Croton-on-Hudson.

A number of local community leaders were in attendance at Tuesday’s ribbon-cutting ceremony to welcome the DonationXpress staff and Goodwill to the Eastchester area, including Westchester Legislature Sheila Marcotte and Assistant Director of Employment Operations at the Westchester County Department of Social Services Carlos Moran.