Goodwill marks 50 years

January 28, 2005

Horizon Goodwill Industries of Hagerstown kicked off its 50-year anniversary celebration Thursday with an appreciation luncheon honoring those who have led the organization since 1955 and helped it expand its job-training services into 17 counties in four states.

The event also recognized employees and clients who have been with the agency 10 years or more, said Greg Evans, manager of marketing and communications at the corporate center at 14515 Pennsylvania Ave.

Robert L. Fisher II, senior vice president of Farmers and Merchants Bank and Trust, and Todd Ghattas, general manager of Office Suppliers Inc., are serving as co-chairmen of the golden jubilee celebration.

More than "250 men and women from the quad-state region have volunteered their time and talents over five decades to make Horizon one of the most respected and successful nonprofit agencies in Western Maryland," said Horizon's Executive Director and CEO Craig MacLean.

The agency began in early 1955 as Hagerstown Goodwill Industries when a small group of Washington County businessmen formed a committee to research the need to serve people with workforce disadvantages and disabilities by providing job training and employment services as well as job placement and post-employment support.

Renamed Horizon Goodwill Industries in 2001, the not-for-profit organization now based on the outskirts of Hagerstown has branch facilities in Cumberland, Md., Martinsburg, W.Va., and Winchester, Va., as well as in downtown Hagerstown.

There are 12 retail stores, in Cumberland (two), LaVale, Grantsville and Hagerstown, Md., Charles Town, Berkeley Springs, Keyser and Martinsburg, W.Va., Greencastle and Waynesboro, Pa., and Winchester, Va.

The current board of directors is led by Bradley Pingrey of M&T Bank; Spence Perry, retired FEMA attorney, vice chairman; Bryan Moorhouse, formerly of Allegheny Energy, secretary; and Stephen Hummel of Hagerstown Trust Co., treasurer.

The founding board, which first met in July 1995, included J.H. Baylis of Fairchild Aircraft; Richard Funkhouser of R.J. Funkhouser and Co.; David W. Byron of Lane, Bushong and Byron; and Richard Grumbacher of Eyerly's Inc. Harvey E. Kettering was the first executive director.

Horizon Goodwill has an active business advisory council in Allegany County and a newly formed group in Garrett County. There are plans for a similar council in Hagerstown where there is a community relations advisory council in place, Evans said.

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