This American nonprofit organization was started by Reverend Edgar J. Helms of Morgan Methodist Chapel. His congregation were known to collect household goods and clothing that were discarded in wealthier areas. They then hired and trained the unemployed to mend or repair the goods, so that they could be redistributed to those in need. This organization is funded by a large network of retail thrift stores, which operate as nonprofits as well. Today, Goodwill is a highly recognized, and has taken more than 4 million in annual revenue. Helms has described Goodwill as an industrial program combined with a social enterprise service that provides employment, training and rehabilitation for people of limited employability. He also described it as a source of temporary assistance for those whose resources are depleted with nowhere else turn.

This organization was mentioned in Lindner's Jane,  when Jane Moore mentioned while waiting for a job interview that, "I sat stiffly in the one nearest the exit, where, feeling like an imposter in my gray herringbone suit from Goodwill, I could watch the competition come and go."(p. 1, Lindner). This mention made by Moore reveals indirectly her financial status, in that Goodwill is known for offering goods, like clothing at a reduced price, which would attract those of a lower-income status, such as Jane Moore. Moore was left with no money after the passing of her parents, nor did her siblings offer her any financial stability after their parents' death, leaving her to scrape by with what little she had, hoping to find a babysitting once her school, Sarah Lawrence closed.The offerings of goodwill is more overt and used as a public display of high status in Bronte's Jane Eyre. The Lowood Institution that Jane attends is described only partly as a charity school, where the orphans' guardians or sponsors pay for them to attend (p.47, Norton 4th Critical Ed.). This form of 'charity' seems to benefit mostly Mr. Brocklehurst and his family, as they receive most of the charitable profits and praise from the community for opening a school for orphans. The orphaned children of Lowood are only given the basic necessities for survival, while living in and practicing the rigorous routines of Lowood. In the Victorian Era setting of Jane Eyre, coming out of poverty seemed to be more of a dream than a reality, unless one happened to marry into a well-off family. Today, nonprofit organizations like Goodwill offer genuinely charitable resources for both children and adults in need, when it comes to obtaining goods, clothing and securing employment, giving them a better chance to come up from their impoverished state with the hope of flourishing in the future.

Bibliography

Bronte, Charlotte. Jane Eyre. W.W. Norton & Company Inc., 2016.

Lindner, April. Jane. Poppy: Hachette Group & Company, Inc., 2010.

Information Source: "Goodwill's History." goodwill.org. Goodwill. Web. Date Accessed, 22 Oct. 2019, https://www.goodwill.org/about-us/goodwills-history/

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