Goodwill Workers Get A Clean Start Car Wash Business Raises Money, Employs Disabled

Jon talks nonstop as he soaps and rinses a blue Dodge Neon.

He complains about the truck blocking his work space. He tells his co-worker that he missed a spot. And he says, again and again, that he is a staff member of Goodwill Industries.

Actually, Jon is both staff and client.

The 37-year-old, whose last name is being withheld to protect his privacy, works at a new Goodwill operation, a car wash at 1212 N. Fourth.

But Jon, who is disabled, also is monitored and coached in his work environment by case workers from the social service organization.

The car wash provides Goodwill clients with work experience.

Other clients work in the organization’s store and in other businesses in the area.

The car wash began last summer, when Goodwill landed a contract with the state Health and Welfare Department to wash, wax and clean its cars.

Three part-time employees, including Jon, work about 15 hours per week, washing the state cars in the parking lot of the Goodwill store.

The service earns Goodwill between $800 and $900 per month. But the service organization is not in it for the money.

“It’s not really a financial boost,” said Liz Schmitz-Binnall, Goodwill’s manager. “What it does do is offer some employment.”

Steve Seale, the accounting unit supervisor for Health and Welfare, agreed.

“Not only are we getting our cars washed, we are helping Goodwill help clients from our mutual client base,” Seale said. The quality of the work, he added, is excellent.

“I got into one the other day and was flabbergasted,” he said. “It’s practically detail-quality.”

Each of the agency’s 35 to 40 cars is washed every two weeks and the interiors are cleaned and vacuumed.

The cars are waxed twice per year. Workers also check automotive fluids, lights and signals.

Goodwill charges the state $13.50 to wash and clean each car and $20 for waxing. The workers are paid minimum wage - $5.15 per hour.

In addition to helping serve clients, the car wash could become a new business venture for Goodwill. Store customers and employees at surrounding businesses are constantly asking if their cars can be washed too, Schmitz-Binnall said.

“We would really like to run it as a side business,” she said. “But it’s a matter of making a commitment to it.”