Goodwill Industries International CEO Receives Jefferson Award for Achievements in Public Service

Jim Gibbons Honored with 38th Annual "Nobel Prize for Public Service" at Washington, D.C., Gala

ROCKVILLE, Md., June 23 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Jim Gibbons is the 2010 National Jefferson Award recipient in the Greatest Public Service Benefiting the Disadvantaged category. As the current president and CEO of Goodwill Industries International and former CEO for National Industries for the Blind, Gibbons is honored for his tireless, dedicated service to enhance economic opportunities and professional development for people who are blind as well as to help people with disabilities and disadvantages reach their full potential through work.

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"The Jefferson Awards celebrate a sense of duty to our fellow citizens, our communities and beyond," said Sam Beard, founder and president of the Jefferson Awards. "Jim Gibbons has been recognized for his leadership, sacrifice and accomplishments to provide job opportunities for people at a time when so many face economic challenges."

Known as the "Nobel Prize for Public Service," the Jefferson Awards are presented each year during a special gala ceremony in Washington, D.C., where a broad array of honorees are recognized — from high-profile individuals who have dedicated the better part of their lives to public service, to celebrated professional athletes, to largely unheralded community-based volunteers. Also recognized are organizations — companies that represent the pinnacle in corporate citizenship and schools that best reflect the Jeffersonian ideals of citizen involvement.  

"I am honored and humbled to be recognized with such an extraordinary group of award recipients," said Gibbons. "In my role at Goodwill, I have the opportunity to serve many who may not otherwise have the chance to gain independence and dignity through the power of work."

The 38th annual Jefferson Awards were presented on June 22, 2010 at a gala dinner and national ceremony in Washington, D.C. at the National Building Museum presented by co-founder Sam Beard. Other national Jefferson Award winners whose lives, careers and volunteer activities embody the finest examples of public service in a range of human endeavors include New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, Newark Mayor Cory A. Booker, First Response Team of America founder Tad Skylar Agoglia, Partners in Health founder Paul Farmer, Oakland Raiders football player Nnamdi Asomugha and Charlotte Bobcats basketball player Tyrus Thomas.

For more information visit http://www.jeffersonawards.org/

About Goodwill Industries International

Goodwill Industries International is a network of 166 community-based agencies in the United States and Canada with 14 affiliates in 13 other countries. Goodwill is one of the nation's top five most valuable and recognized nonprofit brands as well as a leading social services enterprise (Source: Cone Nonprofit Power Brand 100, 2009). Goodwill agencies are innovative and sustainable social enterprises that fund job training programs, employment placement services and other community-based programs by selling donated clothing and household items in more than 2,400 retail stores and online at shopgoodwill.com. Local Goodwill agencies also build revenue and create jobs by contracting with businesses and government to provide a wide range of commercial services, including packaging and assembly, food service preparation, and document imaging and shredding. In 2009, nearly 2 million people in the United States and Canada benefited from Goodwill's career services. Goodwill channels 84 percent of its revenues directly into its programs and services. To find a Goodwill location near you, use the online locator at www.goodwill.org, or call (800) 741-0186. Twitter: @GoodwillIntl. Facebook: GoodwillIntl

About the Jefferson Awards

Co-founded in 1973 by Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, U.S. Senator Robert Taft, Jr. and Sam Beard, the Jefferson Awards celebrate America's commitment to public service annually. Recognizing the famous and the unknown, individuals and organizations, the young and old, the awards reflect one of the founding ideals of our nation: that of contributing toward the greater good. As Thomas Jefferson wrote, "Private charities as well as contributions to public purposes in proportion to everyone's circumstances are certainly among the duties we owe to society."

Jefferson Award recipients are nominated from throughout the country and selected by the organization's board of directors, which includes Hank Aaron, Hon. Julian Bond, Cris Collinsworth, Michael Douglas, Whoopi Goldberg, Hon. Mitch McConnell, Hon. Harry Reid, Neil Simon, Leslie Stahl and Kathleen Kennedy Townsend. Honorees are chosen on the basis of two main criteria: the outstanding nature of the acts of service and the impact on the community of those acts. Past recipients of the award include Lance Armstrong, Hubert Humphrey, Dr. C. Everett Koop, General Colin Powell and Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. For more information on the Jefferson Awards, visit www.JeffersonAwards.org.

SOURCE Goodwill Industries International