For the Greater Good
Under president and CEO Katy Chen, Goodwill Hawai‘i is growing to better fulfill its mission of supporting the community. | Photo by Lawrence Tabudlo
The building at the corner of South Street and Quinn Lane in Kaka‘ako may not look like much from the outside. At two-stories high with 14,000 square feet of interior space, it’s dwarfed by some of the skyscrapers around it. Even those looking for it might drive right by.
But for the team at Goodwill Hawaii, it was perfect.
“We’d been looking for an alternative space (because) we used to rent a space up on Beretania Street,” says Goodwill Hawai‘i president and CEO Katy Chen. “We used to have three buildings in a row (on Beretania), two we own and one we rented, but we needed to get out of (the one we rented) and were looking for another place to either rent or buy, but what was on the market was either too big or too small. That sweet spot just wasn’t there.”
The solution came last April, when Chen met Big Brothers Big Sisters Hawai‘i CEO Tyler Kurashige for lunch. Goodwill Hawai‘i and Big Brothers Big Sisters had partnered on community initiatives in the past and Chen and Kurashige were colleagues.
“So, he was lamenting the same thing, that they couldn’t find a sweet spot,” Chen recalls. “And then we both kind of looked at each other like, let’s buy something together! And we both knew about this property. So, literally a week after that lunch, we came and saw it and immediately knew there was a lot of potential for this place.”
The building is now home to Goodwill Hawai‘i’s adults with disabilities and at-risk youth programs, and Big Brothers Big Sisters’ youth after-school program. Later this year, it will also house both nonprofits’ administrative and leadership teams.
By sharing the costs, Chen says, both nonprofits will be better positioned to continue providing much-needed social services to the community.
A Bigger Mission
When most folks think of Goodwill, thrift stores, bargain hunting and the annual Goodwill Goes GLAM! fundraiser probably come to mind.
Goodwill Goes GLAM! in particular tends to draw a lot of attention because it features a well-known local designer who creates eye-catching looks out of second-hand items found at Goodwill stores. After the show, attendees get to shop the GLAM! Sale for the best-of-the-best that Goodwill has to offer at a fraction of the price.
But the stores and fundraisers are all part of a bigger mission.
“We have close to 500 employees statewide,” says Chen, who joined the organization as chief operating officer in 2014 and succeeded Laura Smith as CEO in 2020. “Half of them work in our social services programs. So, it’s not just about the stores. People think that because we do have 13 stores statewide, but half of our staff is on the social services side.”
The money from the stores and fundraisers supports those social services.
In addition to its adults with disabilities and at-risk youth programs, Goodwill Hawai‘i also offers job-placement services.
Shirley Dellinger, director of human resources and accounting at Hawai‘i Care Choices (formerly Hospice of Hilo), can vouch for this service.
“Through our partnership with Goodwill Hawai‘i, we’ve successfully identified a candidate who demonstrated both skill and dedication, ultimately becoming a valuable asset to our team,” she says. “This hands-on approach allowed us to closely assess the candidate’s abilities in real-world situations. We believe training future certified nursing assistants on the job contributes to a more efficient hiring process and reduces turnover.”
Education is also a big part of Goodwill Hawai‘i’s mission — so much so that it even operates a high school. Kapolei Charter School opened in 2017 and celebrated its first graduating class in 2021.
“They recently graduated a young gentleman who was the first person to ever graduate from high school on both sides of the family,” Chen says.
“Every student gets a life coach, and the life coach helps those kids with whatever else is going on in their life,” she adds. “Maybe they’re facing food insecurity, maybe there are other things going on in their home that makes attending school a challenge. Whatever the case may be, the life coaches are there to support them as a wraparound service to ensure the kids continue to attend school and do well.”
Focus on the Big Island
Goodwill Hawai‘i’s reach extends beyond O‘ahu to stores and social service programs on Maui, Kaua‘i and Hawai‘i island. The nonprofit is currently in the middle of a capital campaign for its Hilo campus.
Back in October 2023, it closed on a property on Maka‘ala Street that comprises four buildings and a parking lot. Some of the social service programs have already moved onto the site, but Chen says Goodwill wants to repave the parking lot, make the property compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act and renovate the buildings.
“What’s wonderful about (the site) is there’s room to grow,” she says. “We want to be able to grow our programs. We’re also going to be completely gutting and renovating one of the buildings to turn it into a nice brand-new store.
“The other big thing about that campus is for the first time ever we’re going to be able to bring our recycling services to the Big Island,” she continues. “A lot of the recycling initiatives we have now are only on O‘ahu … so textiles that don’t get sold in stores we’ll be able to bale and send them off to be recycled. Same with paper, we’ll be able to do industrial-level paper shredding. Even cardboard, we hope to shred cardboard and re-use it as packing material for other businesses.”
When folks donate items to Goodwill stores, they often bring those items in cardboard boxes and don’t think twice about where those boxes go. But Chen says Goodwill Hawai‘i is always looking for ways to reinvest into the community.
But why give so much attention to Hilo?
“In terms of the population and the overall people that we serve, the Big Island has the greatest percentage,” Chen says. “Twenty-five percent of the people we serve statewide are actually from the Big Island, so our board of directors knew they really wanted to invest more in the Big Island community.”
Goodwill Hawai‘i board member Craig Takamine, president of Takamine Construction, concurs.
“I was born and raised on the Big Island, run a small business and am doing my best to raise a family here on the Big Island,” he says. “I’m excited about what Goodwill Hawai‘i is doing here.
“We have the largest population of asset-limited, income-restrained employed families in the state,” he continues. “(Goodwill Hawai‘i) helps employers recruit new employees, assists with support and, at times, subsidizes wages.”
It’s About People
On O‘ahu, Goodwill Hawai‘i and Big Brothers Big Sisters Hawai‘i plan to host an open house in the spring, when they have fully moved into their new space on Quinn Lane.
“We’re always trying to get that message out that the funds raised from our stores stay local and they’re used to support these services,” Chen says.
“We’re a member of Goodwill International but Goodwill Hawai‘i is nonetheless its own independent nonprofit and we have complete control over the funds that we raise,” she continues. “And we want to invest those straight back into the community, so we really want to get that message out that when you go shop at Goodwill you really are contributing, or when you donate your goods to Goodwill, you really are contributing to the local community.”
Chen, who graduated from University of Washington School of Law, has spent decades in the nonprofit sector but began her career as a corporate attorney.
“Then I had an opportunity to go and work in London. I was not licensed to work as a lawyer in London … so I ended up working as the CEO of a legal aid charity,” she says. “It was focused on immigration and political asylum law, domestic violence and human rights law. I found that I really enjoyed that role so after four years, when I came back, I decided to stay in the nonprofit sector.”
She worked with Hawai‘i Literacy and led People Attentive To Children Hawai‘i before joining Goodwill. She says seeing firsthand the impact Goodwill Hawai‘i has on the community is what keeps her motivated.
“It’s just amazing to see what (Goodwill workers) do day in and day out, whether they’re at a donation center or they’re working with our adults with disabilities,” she says. “I myself have gone around and done different jobs so I know how hard those staff work.
“When I see how they’re helping an at-risk youth or how they’re supporting someone with developmental disabilities, even how they’re servicing some of our customers with such grace in the stores, how they help people unload their entire carload of donations in the hot sun, even the people who operate our baling machines, our paper shredding machines — those are big, loud industrial machines — and driving our forklifts and our trucks, it’s just tremendous.”
To learn more, visit goodwillhawaii.org.
