THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, January 16, 1997 TAG: 9701160231
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B7 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: STAFF REPORT
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: 28 lines
Goodwill Industries of Hampton Roads will celebrate the opening of its Career Resource Center with a reception and tours at 10:30 a.m. Friday.
Scott Oostdyk, Virginia deputy secretary of health and human resources, will be the guest speaker.
The center, at 800 Tidewater Drive, houses offices, four classrooms and computers for training the disabled to enter the work force, said spokeswoman Katherine Overkamp.
Launched about six years ago, the program was operated out of rooms at the back of the Goodwill thrift store at 900 Tidewater Drive, she said.
In 1995, the center trained 327 people, and 68 were placed in jobs.
The new facility - whose renovations, furnishings and equipment were funded by community donations and proceeds from thrift-store sales - will increase training capacity by 20 percent, Overkamp said.
Goodwill Industries, a United Way-certified agency, was founded in Boston in 1902 by a United Methodist minister. The Norfolk branch was begun in 1925 by A.J. Hollingsworth, also a United Methodist minister.
The public is welcome to tour the center Friday morning, or between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. weekdays, beginning Monday. For more information, call 627-7733.