Goodwill of Central Illinois opened its renovated building on War Memorial Drive Monday.
The new facility is called Goodwill Commons. The building closed last year and previously served as Goodwill’s administrative center, retail store and warehouse. The warehouse operations and retail store were relocated, making way for an expansion of educational and social services.
Two-thirds of the re-done building has job training and career services for veterans and families. Patty Fuchs is the President and CEO of Goodwill of Central Illinois. She says the new building can offer training without duplicating area programs:
“Money is getting tighter and I think we have to be smart in the way we provide services. So if we’re providing a service, other agencies can provide services that complement those services – or vice versa.”
Fuchs also says the $4.5 million investment includes a new roof and insulation:
“We took a building that had a beautiful footprint and we re-purposed it into an energy-efficient, modern, open, welcoming building.”
Goodwill Commons also has five state-of-the-art classrooms and conference rooms than can hold 100 people. Fuchs says the organization also wants to eventually renovate a second building to serve as an advanced technological center.