Maple Shade, NJ -- (SBWire) -- 12/03/2019 --The wait is nearly over… Goodwill Industries of Southern NJ & Philadelphia will open its expanded Store & Donation Center in Whitman Plaza (330 West Oregon Avenue) in South Philadelphia on Thursday, December 5. Doors open at 9 am. The first 500 guests will receive a FREE Goodwill tee-shirt.

According to Goodwill President & CEO Mark B. Boyd, Goodwill operated a site on Front Street in South Philadelphia for nearly 20 years up until early March 2019. Goodwill's landlord, ALDI, did not renew its lease. For the last ten months, it has operated out of a much smaller temporary location in Whitman Plaza while construction was underway to subdivide Burlington's retail space.

With more than 16,000 square feet of space, the new Whitman Plaza Goodwill will be light, bright and fully modernized and most importantly filled with bargains for the value conscious shopper.

For donor and shopper convenience, Goodwill's Whitman Plaza location will be open Monday – Saturday 9 am – 9 pm and Sunday 10 am – 6 pm. A donation center in the rear of the building is always staffed by courteous donation attendants who help donors to unload their cars and provide receipts for tax purposes.

A entrepreneurial minded nonprofit, Goodwill uses the proceeds from the sale of donated items to fund its mission of helping individuals with disabilities and disadvantages get to work. For example, Goodwill operates The Helms Academy in West Philadelphia and North Philadelphia. Here, adults 18 and older can earn their high school diploma 100% tuition free while simultaneously earning up to 30 college credits. "It is through donations and retail sales that Goodwill is able to fund these life changing programs," said Boyd. For more information on Goodwill's Helms Academy, please visit www.helmsacademy.org.

About Goodwill Industries of Southern NJ & Philadelphia
Founded in 1948, Goodwill Industries® of Southern New Jersey is a community-based, nonprofit organization. Its mission is to put people with special needs to work. Goodwill offers a variety of career services and employment training programs that help prepare local residents with disabilities and disadvantages for success in the competitive workforce. Through the mass collection and resale of gently-used donated items, Goodwill's 23+ retail stores generate the revenue necessary to fund these worthwhile programs while contributing to America's recycling efforts. For more information on Goodwill, please call 856/439-0200 or visit www.goodwillnj.org.