ShopRite & Goodwill Industries To Honor Job Program Graduates At Breakfast

Wilmington, DE – (9 April 2007) – ShopRite and Goodwill Industries of Delaware and Delaware County, Inc. will honor graduates of their successful job-training program at the first “Partners in Training Recognition Breakfast” on Friday, April 13.

Bill Montgomery, assistant to Wilmington, Del., Mayor James Baker, will be the keynote speaker at the program breakfast at The Goodwill Center in Wilmington. The breakfast will recognize Partners in Training graduates who have excelled as employees of Kenny Family ShopRites of Delaware.

Partners in Training began in New Jersey in 2000 to prepare recipients of public assistance for the workforce by training them for cashier positions with ShopRite supermarkets. It expanded to Delaware in early 2006, as a partnership of Goodwill Industries of Delaware, the Kenny Family ShopRites and Wakefern Food Corp., the marketing and distribution arm of ShopRite.

Students train in a simulated ShopRite supermarket at Goodwill's headquarters, learning to operate a cash register, scan and bag items and research product prices. In an adjacent classroom, students develop customer service and life skills. Through 2006, more than 500 men and women have completed the four-week training program and been hired as cashiers in 17 ShopRites in New Jersey and Delaware.

In 2006, Partners in Training received the Food Marketing Institute’s “Maximizing People Potential Award.” The “MAXX Award” is presented annually to a retailer or wholesaler to recognize programs and initiatives that improve employee performance or advance a key business goal.

The mission of Goodwill Industries of Delaware & Delaware County, Inc. is to improve the quality of life for people with barriers to employment through vocational services and work opportunities.