Goodwill Grows in Sumter, Conway and Summerville with JEDA Bond Funding.

CHARLESTON, SC – April 27, 2010 – Bond financing facilitated by the South Carolina Jobs-Economic Development Authority (JEDA) has helped spread Goodwill further across the state.

The $24.2 million in tax-exempt bonds recently secured by refinanced at a favorable rate earlier JEDA bonds that helped create 250 jobs through six stores, a community service center and a distribution center.

This bond issue will also fund the opening of three new Goodwill stores in Sumter, Conway and Summerville, SC.

“This bond funding has allowed us to expand and to purchase our own property instead of leasing, which in turn helps us secure revenues and spend less on facilities. That helps us serve more people in more communities,” said Robert Smith, CEO of Goodwill Industries of Lower South Carolina.

“Goodwill is known around the nation for its work in job training and job placement for people with disabilities, the homeless, veterans facing special challenges and displaced workers. Helping them do their work more effectively is particularly gratifying for us,” said Tyler Smith, JEDA bond counsel with Haynsworth Sinkler Boyd, P.A. in Greenville.

“Projects such as this speak clearly to JEDA’s ability to help worthy projects come to fruition in South Carolina,” said Harry Huntley, executive director of JEDA in Columbia.

Goodwill Industries now operates 19 retail stores in South Carolina. In 2009, the organization provided services to more than 20,000 people across the state and placed nearly a thousand people into new jobs.