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Goodwill Hunting
Goodwill ‘Reinvention Convention’ to inspire, raise funds for homeless shelter

Chalk up another creative idea to help solve a local community problem.

Missy Smith, who had volunteered several years for “The Party,” Goodwill of Northwest Michigan’s annual fundraising event, had an idea:

What if she could marry the idea of finding and restoring treasures found at the local Goodwill store with a way to get the community inspired by art — and at the same time raise funds for the Goodwill Inn?

And so was hatched “Goodwill’s Reinvention Convention,” which replaces the annual party with a new twist on art, fundraising, and community involvement.

The gist of the idea:

For $20, anyone can register and be granted a “Goodwill Hunting License” and $30 in “hunting bucks,” which they can spend on any item found in the Traverse City Goodwill store.

Then the real fun begins.

Participants have until October 7 to fix, spruce up, redesign, renovate, and transform their item into a piece of art. The weekend of October 8, all pieces of art will be on public display, where the community can pay $1 per vote to choose their favorite(s).

On the final day, awards will be presented, including a grand prize of a $500 downtown Traverse City gift certificate for the “artist” whose piece garnered the most community votes. The original pieces of art will all be sold, to raise money for the Goodwill Inn.

“The beauty of this is it’s open to creative professionals and the creative at-heart, including groups and children and event groups and companies,” Smith tells The Ticker.

Registration is open until September 15.

The idea first came to Smith after finding her own treasure at Goodwill. “I was looking for a small piece of furniture for my daughter’s room, and I bought a dated, mauve stool for $5. Then I came home used some fabric to sew a new cover, and it turned out to be a pretty darn cute piece of furniture! I just thought, ‘I’d be really curious to see what the community could do.’”

So she brought the idea to her volunteer event committee, a group that had run “The Party” for six years but was ready for something new. “They said ‘absolutely, let’s pursue it,’ and the Goodwill board has gotten behind it, too.”

The event is underway, with some “Goodwill Hunters” already registered and a few corporate sponsors lined up, though Smith is actively seeking more support from the business community.

For more information on how to participate or how to become a sponsor, check out the Goodwill Reinvention Convention web site here.

The 70-bed Goodwill Inn, located at 2943 Keystone Road in Traverse City provides emergency shelter, food, and basic essentials to homeless northern Michigan men, women, and families. On any given night, an average of 80 individuals and families call the Goodwill Inn home.