THROOP-- Goodwill stores in northeastern Pennsylvania now have six times as much space to store your donations. The extra room will allow the charity to open more stores.
A warehouse in Throop is where someone's trash becomes someone else's treasure. Goodwill Industries of Northeastern Pennsylvania moved in to the spot last month and it's been a big improvement.
"We moved from a 2,000 square foot facility to this 13,000, so it`s really going to allow us to expand all our programs. We`re in the process of looking for new store locations," said CEO Gerald Langan.
Right now, Goodwill operates second-hand stores in only five of the eleven counties it serves. The charity expects more warehouse space to mean more stores.
"Like night and day, totally different, the Adams warehouse where we were at, it was maybe one-quarter of the size of where we`re at now," said warehouse manager Rick Spencer.
Clothing donations are put on hangers and racks at the warehouse before they go to a Goodwill store.
Goodwill Industries officials say they wanted to get the warehouse open ahead of spring cleaning season, which is their busy season.
"From central processing, instead of then being put on a truck to a warehouse then taken, it goes from central processing right rolled out here, then right out," Spencer added.
The bigger warehouse will also allow Goodwill to recycle more of the clothes that can't be sold. They are bailed up and then shipped out to a third-party clothing recycler that pays Goodwill.
Goodwill's needed more workers to get it all done.
"We hire a lot of our clients who go through our employment program and get the necessary skills. And then we hire them right within this facility," Langan added.