RICHLAND (WACH) -- It's a busy week of giving back in the Midlands.
The local Goodwill Retail and Donation Center on Two Notch gears up all year for this week. The week between Christmas and New Years is the heaviest donation period of the year.
Regional Manager David Hessberger says, "People tend to get stuff for Christmas and a lot of people use the opportunity to clear out closets and garages and people want to do good things with their items that they have."
Tuesday, 300 donors dropped off donations. That number should keep climbing through the end of the year.
"At the end of the year, there is always tax implications and folks wanting to beat that December 31 deadline," says Hessberger.
He says shoppers know the Goodwill for what they have on the racks. What you may not know is what else they offer. Money made provides the funding for their job placement and training services.
"I think Goodwill with our focus being on employment and putting people back to work is more important than ever in this country with the challenges we all face with our friends and neighbors and people who are unemployed and the struggles in just finding jobs I've always felt we were important but I think we are more important that ever now," he adds.
Even with the state of today's economy, Hessberger expects donations to stay strong through the next few days.
"I think the generosity of people in South Carolina is pretty amazing," he says.
The Goodwill is offering a new online calculator. Donors can enter what they are giving and calculate the tax benefit.
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