"Enterprise of the Heart"

In a three-story building in Washington, D.C. last week, a woman whose legs have been withered by polio fitted plastic legs on torn dolls. Nearby, a blind man who had lost his sight in an explosion expertly tacked new upholstery on a frayed Willard Hotel chair. Around them, dozens of other disabled men & women worked busily in the headquarters of the Goodwill Industries of America, Inc.

This week, as Goodwill celebrated its 50th anniversary, it could point to a record matched by no organization in the world In its 101 U.S. plants, it has employed thousands of handicapped workers repairing or renovating cast-off articles for sale by Goodwill. Otherwise the workers would nave had to depend for support on relatives or the community. In so doing, Goodwill has shown private industry that handicapped workers can often do as good, and sometimes better, work than normal workers. Industry has taken the lesson to heart. About 30% of the 17,545 handicapped men & women employed by Goodwill last year to repair clothes, toys, antiques, etc., have gone into full or part-time jobs in private industry. Many others have set up their own shops in dressmaking, furniture repair tailoring, printing, painting, etc. It is no surprise to the veteran staffers at Goodwill to hear that a former employee is now supporting a family on his income.

Unscientific Method. This is exactly what the late Edgar James Helms had in mind when he founded Goodwill Industries. In 1902 Helms, a young Methodist preacher, sent out an appeal to Bostonians for cast-off clothing to give to the poor in the South End slums. He called his drive an "enterprise of the heart," but he combined the heart with a great deal of energy and common sense. As director of the Unitarian Church's famous multidenominational Henry Morgan Mission, Preacher Helms paid unemployed workers to clean and repair the clothes, then sold them at low prices to slum dwellers. He decided to renovate cast-off furniture and any other articles people would give him, until now Goodwill Industries repairs and sells everything from pens to a grandfather clock.

Professional social workers did not like Helms's system; they charged that he was "unscientific," that he did not investigate each of his charity employees to be sure they were worthy of help. He countered that his were not charity cases, but workers hired to do a job. When the Unitarians withdrew their support, Helms reorganized the Henry Morgan Mission. He brought it under the Methodist Church, set up Goodwill plants around the U.S., and began to hire only handicapped workers who were most in need of help. Over the years, the Goodwill ties to the Methodist Church have gradually broken, and today less than half of the Goodwill agencies in the U.S. get any financial aid from the Methodists. Although they do get donations, Goodwill agencies have usually been 90% selfsupporting, rarely campaign for funds. Last year the 101 Goodwills in the U.S. got only half a million dollars in contributions. They took in $13,648,948 in 1951 from store sales and other projects, paid out $8,157,620 in wages to 17,545 handicapped people who worked 11 million hours.

Low Pay. Salaried executives at Goodwill are low-paid; Executive Secretary Percy J. Trevethan, 52, who left a good position at Standard Oil 20 years ago to help Helms, makes only $8,500 a year. Trevethan now is spending much of his time setting up foreign branches. There are seven Goodwills in Canada, seven more scattered from Shanghai to Lima, Peru. Goodwill has also landed a defense contract. In the Washington, D.C. national headquarters, 50 handicapped Goodwill workers are deftly assembling mechanical parts for a secret Navy project.

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