A long-vacant building on Grove Street in the borough will soon have a new tenant if all goes according to plan.
Goodwill Industries International recently purchased the former Haddonfield Shellfish building and is in talks with the borough to open a new donation center.
Goodwill purchased the structure with the intention of setting up an “attended donation center,” which would accept donations only from the public during normal work hours. It would be patterned after a current donation center in Medford.
The purchase price of the building was not revealed.
The international organization appeared before the Haddonfield Zoning Board of Adjustment earlier this week to apply for a site variance.
Unlike the nearest Goodwill center — which is located in Cherry Hill on Route 70 — the proposed facility would only be for donations. No items would actually be sold in the Grove Street building.
Juli Lundberg, public relations manager for Goodwill Industries of South Jersey and Philadelphia, said the organization has had its eye on Haddonfield for a possible location for a long time.
The 1,600-square-foot building would most likely be opened by the summer if Goodwill receives all of its approvals from the borough, she said.
Haddonfield is very similar in terms of demographics to Medford, she said, which has a very successful attended-donation center. The center averages about 90 donors a day, she said, which is very high.
“We always look for a central location in a high-traffic area. Our donations translate into money to support our mission. These centers are our fundraisers; we don’t raise money through other means. We recycle and sell the donated goods. The money is funneled directly into job training programs to help people with disabilities get to work,” she said. “We want to be competitive in the market, and we want to deliver exceptional service.”
Typically, municipalities with a higher average household income donate more items and donate more frequently, Lundberg said.
The donations can benefit Haddonfield as well, Lundberg said, as it takes the items out of the trash flow. This reduces the borough’s tipping fees and actually ups its recycling numbers, she said.
Donations are the lifeblood of Goodwill and the attended donation centers go a long way in supporting the institution’s programs, she said. Goodwill has to compete with unattended donation boxes that can typically be found in parking lots, Lundberg said.
Please check in with The Haddonfield Sun online at www.haddonfieldsun.com after Tuesday, Feb. 21 to see the results of the zoning board meeting.
