ar2020 7x10 gwh pages 09 - Flipbook - Page 4
Pandemic Response
Distanced Together
On January 21st, 2020, the U.S. confirmed its first case of COVID-19. By
December, that number had grown to 26.4 million. This year has inarguably been
defined by the global pandemic that swept the world, and we felt it important
to detail Goodwill Houston’s response to it.
On March 17th, we closed our corporate headquarters and Job Connection
Center locations and sent our teams to work from home. On March 24th, Harris
County – the largest county in Texas – announced a stay-at-home order and,
in compliance with that order, we temporarily closed all stores and donation
centers. We kept them closed for nearly two months, until state and local officials
said it was safe to reopen. In that time, we took care of our teams. We continued
paying all employees for three weeks after our doors closed – giving them
much needed time as they transitioned, with little or no gap in pay, to receiving
unemployment benefits.
We have been able to bring our retail teams back into the stores while keeping
our corporate and Job Connection teams working from home for now. We are
grateful to be financially stable and debt-free as we work to help our friends
and neighbors recover and move forward.
