PORTLAND, Ore. — Have you been putting together a donation pile filled with clothes and items you don’t use around the house anymore? Good news: you can donate at some Portland-area Goodwill stores now.
In just the last couple of weeks, a dozen Goodwill stores have reopened after shutting down in late March because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, the stores are going to have different requirements for customers before they can even walk inside.
One of the new requirements is that Goodwill employees won’t be able to grab donation items from your car, and customers are required to wear a mask or face covering along with gloves, too. If you don’t, you won’t be allowed inside, said Goodwill spokesperson Dale Emanuel.
The Goodwill near Portland International Airport opened back up last week, and over the weekend lines of cars were spilling out to the street.
“On a day here at the airport, we’ll see 100 or so donors. Yesterday, alone, it was more than 1,000 people,” said Emanuel.
And it isn’t just local Goodwill stores that are seeing a surge in customers once again.
Habitat for Humanity’s Restore in Southeast Portland recently opened back up, and it has been seeing customers coming in who have been waiting to complete projects around the house. The Restore has made changes as well, allowing only 15 customers inside the store at one time.
Manager Phil Geriscott said it’s great to be back open, even if it looks and feels different.
“We're taking cash away to minimize the exchange of things from hands to hands, [and] we are not assisting with loading at this time," said Geriscott.
He hopes these changes will protect his staff and his customers.