Posted by Heather Rutz on May 25, 2017
Goodwill and Easter Seals serve overlapping populations.
The regional merger of Goodwill and Easter Seals makes sense because the two organizations serve overlapping populations, Goodwill/Easter Seals of Miami Valley President and CEO Lance Detrick told Rotary Monday.
In Ohio, one in five people have a disability. Also, one in six is living in poverty, Detrick said. Merging those two populations, one in four people with a disability lives in poverty. Goodwill helps people find jobs and overcome barriers to employment, and Easter Seals helps people with disabilities.
The two groups have a long history in Allen County. Easter Seals of West Central Ohio merged with Miami Valley in 1991, and Goodwill in Lima merged with Easter Seals of Miami Valley in 2009. While both are national organizations, there are 162 local Goodwills in the United States and Canada, and only six are affiliated with Easter Seals.
In 2016, the merged organization built a West Central Ohio regional headquarters and Goodwill retail site on Allentown Road.
“Opening that facility gives us a stronger presence here,” said Detrick, who is a Dayton Rotary Club member.
The merged group works in the region on job placement services and disability services, such as training a person with vision impairments how to use a cane.
Detrick said the organization is motivated by three things about the people they serve:
People want to help themselves, and Goodwill Easter Seals helps with a hand up;
Even when people need assistance, they want to do as much as they can for themselves;
People want choices and to make their own decisions.
In other business:
The Scholarship Committee awarded another round of $1,000 scholarships, bringing the historical total of 894 in the 16 years of the program funded largely by the golf outing.
New members Beth Seibert, Sharon Ewing, Jane Campbell, and Mindy Schulz were introduced to the club.