YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Youngstown Area Goodwill Industries has accomplished great things for many years, and Aim Transportation Solutions has helped drive many of its efforts.
On Thursday, the two longtime partners celebrated 30 years of working together.
“Obviously, Goodwill does a very noble service to the community, and Aim supports that 100% and loves to be a part of that,” said Matt Svancara, COO of Aim Leasing.
Through its 10 stores, Youngstown Area Goodwill provides not just thrifting opportunities that keep items out of landfills, but also job training and programs and services for those in need.
Aim Transportation Solutions, a national company headquartered in Girard, has worked with Goodwill to make sure the items dropped off at various sites are taken for processing and then available at Goodwill’s stores.
“You’d like to think you get the perfect mix of donations from each location, but you don’t,” said Shelley Murray, CEO of Youngstown Area Goodwill Industries. “So you have to transport your product around to different locations. So without Aim, we don’t have fully stocked stores.”
To celebrate the milestone in their long-term relationship, Aim brought lunch to Goodwill employees. Trisha Mossor, Aim business development manager, presented Murray with a plaque commemorating their partnership.
Svancara said Aim works with other Goodwills across the country and has many 25- and 30-year customers in many fields. Aim is the third-largest independent truck leasing company in the U.S.
Henry McNicholas, the uncle of Aim founder Tom Fleming, was the chairman of the Goodwill board when the organization had its first fundraising campaign in the 1970s. Fleming and his brother, Joe, also both served on the Goodwill board and have served as chairmen.
“So as you can see, the Fleming family and Aim have had a meaningful decades-long partnership with Goodwill that spans over 50 years,” Mossor said.
Mossor said Aim and Goodwill have decades of shared values and cultures that align really well.
“Aim prides ourselves on long-term relationships with our customers,” Svancara said. “That’s really who Aim is, and our culture is to work with customers and have long-term partnerships.”
To Murray, Aim’s success has a lot to do with its workplace culture, and she notes Goodwill is proud to work with good companies employing local people and doing great things in the Mahoning Valley.
“I think it speaks volumes the awards Aim has received for Most Loved Workplace and Most Loved CEO,” Murray said. “That’s supporting individuals in the local community, right? They’re working at Aim, and that makes us feel good that we’re partnering with an organization that’s giving back to the local community in such a positive way.”
Pictured at top: Trisha Mossor, left, business development manager at Aim Transportation Solutions, presents a commemorative plaque to Shelley Murray, CEO of Youngstown Area Goodwill Industries.