Author: Jacob Heller

Goodwill donation will help keep dozens of dogs warm as they await adoption

Goodwill donates blankets to Sioux City Animal Adoption & Rescue Center

Goodwill of the Great Plains Operations Supervisor Marty Murguia (left) is seen with Cindy Rarrat (right) of the Sioux City Animal Adoption & Rescue Center after Goodwill donated blankets to the center on Friday, Oct. 16, 2026.
Goodwill of the Great Plains Operations Supervisor Marty Murguia (left) is seen with Cindy Rarrat (right) of the Sioux City Animal Adoption & Rescue Center after Goodwill donated blankets to the center on Friday, Oct. 16, 2026.

On Friday, Oct. 16th, Goodwill of the Great Plains donated several blankets to Sioux City’s Animal Adoption & Rescue Center, located at 2400 Hawkeye Dr. in Sioux City, Iowa.

The donation couldn’t have come at a better time, as the center currently has more than 60 dogs who are in need of adoption.

To find out more about the Sioux City Animal Adoption & Rescue Center, including which animals are currently available for adoption, please visit its website at https://www.siouxcityanimalrescue.com/.

To find out more about Goodwill of the Great Plains, including job training and placement programs currently offered, please visit https://goodwillgreatplains.org/.

Memorial sensory panels in Goodwill’s Mission Services Center unveiled in honor of Megan Schonrock

Megan's mother Robin, and Nicole Moodie, a Program Manager at Goodwill who knew Megan well, pose in front of two of the sensory panels during a dedication ceremony at Goodwill's Mission Services Center on Monday, December 15.
Megan’s mother Robin and Nicole Moodie, a Program Manager at Goodwill who knew Megan well, pose in front of two of the sensory panels during a dedication ceremony at Goodwill’s Mission Services Center on Monday, December 15.

The sensory panels were dedicated by Megan’s mother during a ceremony on December 15

The Goodwill of the Great Plains Mission Services Center in Sioux City has a new interactive memorial, in memory of a person who was a long-time member of the Integrated Day Services Program.

After Megan Schonrock passed away in September of 2025, her mother Robin wanted to do something to honor her daughter’s memory and enrich the lives of her daughter’s friends at Goodwill.

Robin used memorial money given in honor of Megan to design and purchase five new sensory wall panels to enhance the sensory hallway at Goodwill’s Mission Services Center.

Sensory wall panels are interactive tools, much like fidget devices, placed on a wall to help improve concentration and focus, reduce anxiety, improve creativity and more.

The panels were dedicated during a ceremony on Monday afternoon, December 15, 2025.

Megan was part of Goodwill’s Integrated Day Services program for nearly a decade.

Goodwill to expand VR thanks to $25,000 MRHD grant

A group of Goodwill employees, including (from L to R) Jeff Johnson, Mitchell Kulawik and Vilay Keokenchanh, hold a large novelty check for $25,000, awarded by Missouri River Historical Development (MRHD) to Goodwill of the Great Plains during a ceremony on Thursday, Oct. 23rd inside Encore Hall at Sioux City's Hard Rock Hotel and Casino.

MRHD grant will help underserved youth

Goodwill of the Great Plains will soon be leasing several Transfr VR Goggle headsets and the software needed to run them, thanks to a generous grant from Missouri River Historical Development (MRHD).

Goodwill was awarded a $25,000 MRHD Impact Match Grant, one of nine given out during a ceremony on Thursday morning, Oct. 23rd, inside Sioux City’s Hard Rock Hotel & Casino.

This virtual reality technology creates immersive career exploration opportunities for underserved youth, allowing them to experience in-depth job simulations for high-demand careers.

The money will also help purchase 8 laptops, 6 iPads and a scanner; Goodwill will provide $6,399 toward the purchase.

A total of $1.25 million in grants were given out during the ceremony, ranging from $25,000 – $250.000.

MRHD has invested more than $58 million into Woodbury Co. and surrounding areas since 1994.

Goodwill donates one million plastic bags for Nebraska’s first plastic asphalt road

A group of construction workers look at the new plastic-bag asphalt being poured on Foundry Rd. in South Sioux City, Nebraska on June 11th, 2025.

Goodwill plastic bags used in Foundry Road paving project

The state of Nebraska now has its first plastic asphalt road and Goodwill of the Great Plains donated one million plastic bags to make that happen.

Paving was started on Foundry Road, near the Siouxland Freedom Park in South Sioux City, Nebraska, on Wednesday, June 11th.

Tami Koenigs, Sustainability Manager at Goodwill of the Great Plains, speaks to an assembled crowd during a ceremony to commemorate the new plastic-bag asphalt road being poured on Foundry Rd. in South Sioux City, Nebraska on June 11th, 2025.

The 4,000-foot-long stretch of road has a base of six inches of regular asphalt, topped by three inches of the plastic bag asphalt mixture.

This not only keeps the bags out of the landfill, but the plastic asphalt road is expected to last longer and develop fewer potholes over time; this plastic asphalt mixture will also be used on bike paths in the area.

More than one billion tons of plastic bags are produced worldwide every year.

The Foundry Road project used approximately two million plastic bags; First Star Recycling also donated roughly one million plastic bags to the project.

Goodwill of the Great Plains has a vision of being a leader in environmental sustainability and plastic isn’t the only thing we recycle!

To find out more about our ongoing sustainability efforts, please visit https://goodwillgreatplains.org/sustainability

2024 – A Year of Good

A look back at what we accomplished together in 2024

Thanks to your generous support, Goodwill of the Great Plains made a difference in more than 32,000 lives in 2024 – helping hundreds of people get jobs, changing thousands of lives and diverting millions of pounds from landfills.

Take a deeper dive into those numbers below:

A look at how Goodwill of the Great Plains positively impacted the communities it serves in 2024 - showing various statistics and numbers related to programming, pounds of material diverted from landfills, pounds of material recycled and more.

Together, we were able to do a lot of GOOD!

To find out more about the programs and services offered by Goodwill of the Great Plains, please visit goodwillgreatplains.org