Supporting adults with disabilities to enjoy active and fulfilling lives.

Our Goodwill Day Services’ choir is famous! After many years of performing at Goodwill and at local businesses and community partners, our choir was selected to be featured on PBS’s "10thirtysix" program. The PBS crew filmed the choir during a holiday-themed performance from the Summerfield United Methodist Church in Milwaukee in early November. The site was significant because it was the location of Milwaukee’s very first Goodwill back in 1919. “We were thrilled to have this opportunity to showcase our choir’s talents during our 100th anniversary year,” said Nichole Uecker, Program Manager of Day Services. The program airs in December on channels 10 and 36. Check your local listings for more details.

The Goodwill Day Services Inspirations Choir was formed in the late 1990s by Recreation Assistant Kimbly Gipson. Originally formed at our Senior Center North location, the group now calls home Goodwill’s James O. Wright Center for Work and Training (JOW) on 91st Street in Milwaukee. There are 20 active members who rehearse every Monday and Thursday afternoon. All members are participants in the Day Services program, which offers services to adults with disabilities.

Participation in the choir is an engaging way for individuals to collaborate with their peers and showcase their considerable vocal skills. They have performed for audiences at JOW, the Goodwill Center for Work and Training – Southwest Campus, Alexian Village, Allix Care, Mayfair Mall, Friendship Village, Luther Manor, Bridges, and other Goodwill Day Services sites. Future appearances include a Christmas Concert at Mayfair Mall as well as performances at various Milwaukee County Parks.

We are so proud of our choir members and very thankful to PBS for offering this opportunity to showcase their talent!

Held annually, Camp Goodwill is an opportunity for participants and staff from all our program locations to gather and enjoy the great outdoors, fun and games, and of course, a cookout! The event is highly anticipated throughout the year and this year’s camp – with a dinosaur theme – was a roaring success!

On Wednesday, June 5 our Community Opportunities Club North (COC North) located at Underwood Parkway in Wauwatosa was transformed into a Jurassic Park for our 7th Day Services Camp Goodwill. Our theme for our 2019 event was “I Dig Camp Goodwill” and our activities, crafts, and décor highlighted our favorite prehistoric pals – dinosaurs!

Sporting matching dino-green camp t-shirts, participants enjoyed a Dinosaur Dig for fossils in our sand pit, geocached for dinosaur eggs in COC North’s lush woods, created their own fossils from clay, had their pictures taken with a “real” dinosaur, and won fantastic prizes in Thunder Lizard Bingo. Each of these stations was supervised by volunteers from throughout the Goodwill organization who were eager to take part in the fun. The group of participants, staff and volunteers worked up a brontosaurus-sized appetite around noon and enjoyed grilled hot dogs, chips, fruit, beans and dessert.

The 2019 Camp Goodwill tricera-topped all our expectations! We are looking forward to enjoying more sun, fun, and food with friends at next year’s event.

Members of Goodwill’s Adult Day Services programs are creative, outgoing and very fashionable. Our annual TAP the Potential Fashion Show in October is a coveted opportunity for participants to show off these traits for an audience of peers and other individuals from around the community.

With the help of Milwaukee County’s Office of Persons with Disabilities, Goodwill hosts this event at our Community Opportunities Club North, which is located at Wil-O-Way Underwood Park in Wauwatosa. The fashion show features models from other agencies including Easter Seals and Adult Day Services of Southeast Wisconsin. The TAP the Potential Fashion Show is just one of many events Goodwill hosts during National Disability Employment Awareness Month.

Music has often been called a universal language, and that remains true for our staff and participants in Day Services at Goodwill’s James O. Wright Center for Work and Training (JOW) in Milwaukee. Whether they are playing instruments, dancing and moving during our adaptive fitness classes, or belting out their favorite standards during our karaoke contests, Day Services clients are drawn to the rhythms and lyrics of rock, R&B, jazz, pop, classical and gospel music. For our staff, music is a way to share common interests and engage participants with disabilities regardless of physical, cognitive or communication barriers in meaningful programming.

Musician Roy Ayers said, “The true beauty of music is that it connects people. It carries a message and we, the musicians, are the messengers.” For Goodwill participants in the Day Services Choir at the James O. Wright Center for Work and Training (JOW) program, the message expressed through song is that regardless of individual differences, we all have a gift to share with the world.

On Friday, June 23, Day Services and Life Skills Development programs at the James O. Wright Center for Work and Training (JOW) in Milwaukee hosted their third annual Day Services Carnival. This event generates tremendous excitement from both participants and staff who look forward to the carnival throughout the spring. For the 85 participants enrolled in the two programs, this event is an opportunity to socialize with friends and Goodwill employees, sample treats and drinks, win fabulous prizes, and enjoy the beautiful summer weather.  It also provides them with a fun way to develop fine and gross motor skills, math skills, and self-advocacy skills through the games, activities, and tickets earned during their participation in the carnival.

On Friday, November 18, the staff and participants of Goodwill’s Day Services and Life Skills Development programs held their annual Holiday Bazaar at the Goodwill Center for Work and Training – Southwest Campus (GSC) in Greendale. This year marked the 15th year that Day Services has offered unique arts and crafts, sweet and savory treats, and holiday décor for sale to the community.

Have you heard of NIA? If not you are missing out! Goodwill Life Skills participants have been enjoying these classes for three years! So what is it? It’s a fun and engaging Neuromuscular Integrative Action class (NIA) featuring a cardio dance workout set to popular music that combines martial arts and boxing with yoga-like movements. Classes are designed to meet the needs of our participants and move with the pacing and abilities of the group.

On a not-so-dark and stormy morning, vampires, goblins and ghouls searched through slimy sludge for creepy crawlies, pinned noses on the resident witch, and built skeletons out of a bag of bones. They were, of course, taking part in Goodwill’s annual Spooky Hunt at our James O. Wright Center for Work and Training (JOW) to celebrate Halloween.

Do you know someone with a developmental disability who is looking to build independence and develop skills to prepare for a job in the community? If so, the Life Skills Development program at Goodwill’s James O. Wright Center for Work and Training (JOW) may be the answer.