CHARLOTTE — More than 700 employees are back at work at 26 Goodwill Industries stores and donation centers across North and South Carolina as the states begin to reopen.
Employees have been training for this moment for weeks. Masks, gloves, sanitizer and social distancing are just a few of the new guidelines they’re following. And with shopping in full swing, that means Goodwill’s donation centers are, too.
“We’re doing all of the safety protocols,” said Tonya Nations, Vice President of Donated Goods Retail for Goodwill of the Southern Piedmont. “People that have been at home or been quarantined, they have taken advantage of this time to clean out their houses and garages and everything else.”
Since the locations started accepting donations, they’ve received 145 truckloads full. The nonprofit is using trailers to hold items in an effort to prevent possible COVID-19 exposure to employees and customers.
Once an item is donated, it will sit in the trailer for 72 hours before it’s moved inside the store. There’s no contact between employees and the people who are dropping off donations using blue bins, and each item is wiped down before it is sorted.
The donations keep current employees on the payroll and Goodwill’s job training in place for people out of work.
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