Edgar James Helms (1863 – 1942)

Edgar is credited as the founder of the movement that would grow into Goodwill Industries® and was admired for his uncommon character and entrepreneurial vision.

Helms was born near Malone, NY on January 19, 1863. Early in life, Helms tried his hand at law and newspaper publishing but abandoned these endeavors after answering the call to the ministry in 1889 when he enrolled in the Boston University Theological School.

Helms and two fellow students requested that the City Missionary Society support them in opening a full-scale settlement house in the North End. Instead, they offered him a struggling inner-city mission in Boston’s South End, Morgan Chapel, which a fellow minister, Henry Morgan, had established a generation earlier.

The young minister Helms was appalled at the conditions faced by immigrants who found themselves in a new country without jobs and sometimes desperate for food, clothing, and shelter. Using burlap bags from Thomas Wood and Company, Helms went door-to-door in Boston’s wealthiest districts asking for donations of clothing and household goods.

Goodwill differed from many charities of the day, emphasizing that donated goods could be sold for profit and that the money would be used to pay workers who would help to refurbish those goods. Helms hired people in need — many of whom were considered unemployable — to do this repair work. Employees received $4 a day. When money was scarce, workers received $5 clothing vouchers.

Although it wasn’t until 1915 that the term Goodwill Industries was coined, 1902 became known as the year Goodwill was born. With the help of Methodist Church funding, Helms went on to help establish Goodwill Industries organizations across the U.S. By 1920, there were 15 individual Goodwill locations, including Morgan Memorial in Boston.

Helms would not be content until the Goodwill message spread around the world. In 1926, he began travels that would take him to Australia, China, Japan, the Philippines, Malaysia,

Major economic and political crises like World War I, the financial crash of 1929, and the Great Depression solidified the need for an organization like Goodwill. In 1934, realizing Goodwill needed to have a bigger hand in rehabilitation, Helms prophetically wrote, “Goodwill will be out of business if it does not take over work with the handicapped people.”

In 1892 he married Jean Preston, his childhood sweetheart. They had three children together before Jean died of Tuberculosis in 1898. Three years later, he married Jean’s sister, Grace. After a long life dedicated to helping others, Helms died on December 23, 1942, leaving behind his wife Grace, and 12 children.

An estimated 1,500 people thronged Boston’s Morgan Memorial Church of All Nations to pay final tribute at his funeral on December 27. Bishop G. Bromley Oxnam spoke these words in his eulogy “[Helms] was blessed with a fine mind, a great heart, and a strong will. His unusual business ability, passionate devotion, and physical strength enabled him to serve his fellow man, who were uninterested in charity, but yearned for a chance.”

In 2002 during Goodwill’s Centennial Celebration, a bronze medallion in Helms’ honor was added to The Extra Mile – Points of Light Volunteer Pathway in Washington, DC, the only national monument that honors individuals who selflessly champion causes to help others realize a better America.

Today, Goodwill Industries International sponsors two annual national awards that honor staff members in local Goodwill agencies who exemplify Helms’ values of unselfish service, self-reliance, and a strong work ethic.

FRIENDS OF GOODWILL, BE DISSATISFIED WITH YOUR WORK UNTIL EVERY HANDICAPPED AND UNFORTUNATE PERSON IN YOUR COMMUNITY HAS AN OPPORTUNITY TO DEVELOP TO HIS FULLEST USEFULNESS AND ENJOY A MAXIMUM OF ABUNDANT LIVING.
— DR. EDGAR J. HELMS, 1941