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PROVIDING JOBS AND
TRAINING THROUGH STORES AND MORE
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BY PAM DROOG
Chances are most St. Louisans have given donations to or shopped
at a Goodwill Industries store—perhaps to furnish a college dorm
room or first apartment, find inexpensive designer clothing or add
to a collection. Behind the scenes at those stores are hundreds
of people who sort, stock and serve customers. And behind those
store employees—plus thousands of other individuals who receive
special vocational training—are the dedicated members of the board
of MERS/ Missouri Goodwill Industries.
The organization is the result of the 2001 merger of Metropolitan
Employment and Rehabilitation Service and Missouri Goodwill Industries.
MERS, the former Jewish Vocational Services, originally was founded
to help Holocaust refugees find jobs. Goodwill Industries is more
than a century old.
“Both agencies were in the business of training people with disadvantages
or disabilities, and helping them find jobs,” says Dr. Lewis Chartock,
MERS/Goodwill president and chief executive officer. “By combining
our resources we’re able to service many more people much more efficiently.”
Besides combining services, the two agencies also merged their boards
into one large board with 51 members.
“We didn’t want to exclude anyone,” says MERS/Goodwill board chairperson
Angela Dalton, president and chief executive officer of The Guarantee
Trust Company of Missouri. “As a result we have people in banking
and finance, entrepreneurs, individuals who are active volunteers,
and some board members who have disabilities.”
Chartock adds, “Some of the better known philanthropists in the
area serve on the board, as well as a state senator, doctors, attorneys,
psychologists.”
Board members serve two successive three-year terms. Dalton says
people ask to serve on the MERS/Goodwill board. “I did that!” she
says. “I didn’t know much about Goodwill except that I could find
cheap jeans at the store. But the more I found out about it, the
more interested I became.” Her two-year term as chairperson will
end next year, when first vice-chair Steve Roberts, president of
The Roberts Companies, will take over.
MERS/MISSOURI
GOODWILL INDUSTRIES BOARD OF DIRECTORS
(Seated left to right): Joan Newman, Lawrence
Otto, Howard Handelman, Donnis Casey, Brain Mann,
Angela Dalton (chairperson), Jack Minner, Lewis Chartock
(president and CEO), Edward Cohen, Shanti Khinduka
(Standing left to right): Tani Wolff, Robert Shapiro,
Ronald Gerson, Julie Rosenfeld, Paul Kravitz, Myra
Rosenthal, John Frerichs, Ilene Ordower, Anthony Lane,
E. Randolph Whitelaw, Mel Auslander, Rhonda O’Brien,
Jay Summerville, Jerome Gilden, Paul Friedman, George
Newman, Charles Eisenframer, Carolyn Redmore, Larry
Greenberg
Not pictured: Robert Avis, Kenneth Ball, Jack Barsanti,
C. Frank Chauvin, Maida Coleman, Mary Domahidy, Richard
Flom, Judith Gall, Joseph Glik, Lester Goldman, Marvin
Goldman, Robert Greenstein, Barry Hollander, Warner
Isaacs, Michael Karl, Kraig Kreikemeier, Robert Lefton,
Lucy Lopata, Wilma Messing,
David Naunheim, Steven Roberts, Marvin Simon, Edith
Wolff |
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One advantage of a big board is that it’s easier to fill committee
posts. MERS/ Goodwill board members serve on the executive, finance,
audit, nominating, employment and training, strategic long-range
planning, public relations/development, buildings and grounds, retail
operations/contracts, human resources, conflict of interest, and
daycare committees. The full board assembles once a month and committees
“are always meeting,” Dalton says.
Specifically, the board directs the operations of MERS/Goodwill’s
three divisions—stores, rehabilitation services and contract services—which
together employ 1,000 individuals and serve about 6,000 clients
annually.
“Everyone is familiar with our stores, but what the general public
may not know is what the stores support,” Chartock says. “We train
people to learn a skill, so they can get a job and earn a living,
renew their self-esteem and confidence, and have pride in their
work.”
Currently MERS/Goodwill operates 25 stores in the region and Springfield,
Mo. Six more are planned, Chartock says.
“The stores do very well and serve two purposes, to help the organization
financially and to provide a place where disabled people can work
for a regular, non-subsidized wage,” he says, “including people
who could never work anyplace else.”
A wide range of individuals benefit from the agency’s rehabilitation
services, including those with serious disabilities or mental illness,
recovering chemical dependents, immigrants and refugees, parolees,
women returning to the work force, retirees, people making midlife
career changes and others. The agency’s 17 rehabilitation services
offices are located throughout the region as well as Poplar Bluff,
Cape Girardeau and Springfield. Eventually each store will be associated
with separate rehabilitation facilities that serve the disabled,
Chartock says.
“It’s a highly professional organization that provides an in-depth
evaluation for every client,” Chartock says. “We never have a person
who just has a problem finding a job. It’s always connected with
other issues, like transportation or daycare. We can help with that
and manage that.” Chartock adds one of the best “job finders” is
MERS/Goodwill Vice President and former sports broadcaster Zip Rzeppa.
“He and his team have some successes you wouldn’t believe,” Chartock
says.
MERS/Goodwill’s contracts division works through NISH (National
Institute of the Severely Handicapped), the national organization
that arranges set-aside contracts for disabled people to clean offices,
operate mail rooms and provide clerical and administrative services.
The board recently completed a long-range plan that took more than
one year to complete, Chartock says.
“We looked at how much expansion we want to get into, and what kind
of outcomes the board wants to see,” he says. “The board is very
careful not to get involved in the day-to-day operations of the
agency, but it does have every right to know if we’re getting results.”
Results mean getting jobs for clients, and that means financial
support for MERS/ Goodwill. Chartock explains, “If we don’t get
someone a job, we don’t get paid.” Because state and federal funding
that used to be paid per-client is now based on outcomes. But that’s
good for us,” he says. “It keeps us on our toes!”
MERS/Goodwill’s annual budget is $30 million and expected to reach
$34 million in the coming year, Chartock says. Missouri’s billion-dollar
deficit means “things will be much more serious,” he adds. “But
we’re in better shape than many other agencies. We have about 40
different funding resources, at least for now.”
Ultimately, “The board is responsible for either increasing revenues
or decreasing expenses, like any business,” Chartock says. “Except
in our case, the consequences can be very serious for people who
depend on our services.”
Pam Droog is a frequent contributor to St. Louis Commerce Magazine.
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