Most consumers in Bakersfield have likely experienced a round-up campaign, one of those fundraisers that invite customers to round up their transaction total to the nearest dollar, with the spare change directed to a nonprofit or charity.<\/p>\n
These low-pressure efforts to raise money for a cause allow consumers to make no-fuss, no-muss micro-donations while running an errand or picking up dinner.<\/p>\n
On Tuesday morning, at the Goodwill store on Coffee Road, Goodwill industries of South Central California President and CEO Jake Slayton used an oversized check to hand over a donation of approximately $4,200 to Shawn Kennemer, president and CEO of Bakersfield ARC, a nonprofit that has provided job training, employment and support services for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their families in Kern County since 1949.<\/p>\n
“We had actually been discussing Round Up for quite a while,” Slayton said at the news event.<\/p>\n
“A lot of Goodwills do it, but we kind of held off because we were like, ‘What’s our place? What are we asking for? What do we want to do?'”<\/p>\n
After talking it over, they decided to give it a try by partnering with another nonprofit, one that is “also serving the mission,” a nonprofit that is really making a difference on the ground in the community.<\/p>\n
It was an easy choice, Slayton said.<\/p>\n
Bakersfield ARC.<\/p>\n
The mission at Bakersfield ARC, Kennemer said, is to help people with intellectual or developmental disabilities keep the life of their own choosing and support them in their effort.<\/p>\n
“In order to live the life of your own choosing,” he said, “you have to be able to have employment,” and their partnership with Goodwill does just that.<\/p>\n
“We have 19 people that are currently employed (at Goodwill),” Kennemer said. “It’s just amazing. You are, by far, our biggest partner in employment. And we just appreciate it. Thank you.”<\/p>\n
The extra funding will not go into a general fund, Kennemer said, but rather will help with special needs, someone in need of food, maybe work-related clothing, or simply a bill they can’t pay.<\/p>\n
According to Goodwill, the first month of their new roundup campaign was a success. Through small donations at checkout, customers helped make a meaningful impact for Bakersfield ARC and the individuals they serve.<\/p>\n
It’s all thanks to everyday shoppers, local residents who contributed to funding services that directly benefit their fellow community members, Goodwill said in a news release.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Most consumers in Bakersfield have likely experienced a round-up campaign, one of those fundraisers that invite customers to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":253607,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[151,153,152,35254,148302,148301],"class_list":["post-365425","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bakersfield","tag-bakersfield","tag-bakersfield-headlines","tag-bakersfield-news","tag-goodwill","tag-shawn-kennemer","tag-south-central-california-president-and-ceo-jake-slayton"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/365425","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=365425"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/365425\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/253607"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=365425"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=365425"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=365425"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}