Goodwill Industries of Michiana - 2005 Winner

Goodwill Industries of Michiana was honored for excellence in their work to provide jobs, training and placement services for people with barriers to employment. Larry Neff has been president of Goodwill of Michiana for over thirty years. He brings a very simple philosophy to Goodwill with a demonstrated ability to achieve it. Says Neff, "Goodwill aspires to excellence in everything it does."

Goodwill has benefited from talented support staff and a dedicated, mission-driven board of directors. Chairman Rich Hill says Goodwill pursues excellence with such steady, long-lived determination because "The people we serve have needs such that they can't afford to be associated with anything but excellence. Our clients have few alternatives, few options. They can't just go somewhere else the way people with more money or fewer challenges can. We want to change their lives. We have to be excellent."