Local Hero of Edwardsville, Illinois ~ Cissy Altevogt
Sometimes heroes are obvious – like a firefighter who rescues a child from a burning vehicle, but sometimes he or she is your next-door neighbor taking small strides to improve the local community. Cissy Altevogt is one such person who is working to help her community. As the store manager for Goodwill in Glen Carbon, Ill., Cissy is soft-spoken, polite and always equipped with a good story, but does she consider herself a hero? No. She believes her role is that of a teacher.“I’m always going to be a teacher,” said Cissy, when discussing the relationship she has with her staff. “I need to make sure they’re learning something new everyday.”
What began as “just a job” for Cissy as a processor, where she examined the condition of donations and in what season the items would be placed. Goodwill became much more to Cissy when her manager encouraged her to train for a leadership position. Cissy realized she could use the knowledge she gained and share it with those around her.
Cissy remembers helping Ebong Stancil, a new employee that joined the Goodwill team in November of 2009 at Glen Carbon. After Ebong discussed his desire to move up in the company with Cissy, she made it her mission to help him achieve his goal.
“When someone comes to me and shares their aspirations to move up in the company, I make it a personal goal to see that he or she has all the tools necessary to do so,” said Cissy. “This store is my home. There are a lot of good, dedicated people here and I could share something spectacular about each individual on my team.”
One of Cissy’s team members, Teodora Petrova, even won the River Front Times’ Best Citizen Award. She found $7,500 in a shoebox and returned it to the owner who had mistakenly donated the money.
Cissy’s teaching doesn’t stop with her employees, though. She strives to teach the people in her community about what she sees as the greater mission of Goodwill stores: using the donations to fund and create community programs that aid people in finding employment opportunities.
“Goodwill doesn’t just employ our employees,” said Cissy. “We get numerous donations from furniture, designer handbags and purses to priceless antiques that help fund our rehabilitation programs.”
She also noted that customers and donors seem unaware of how their donations help create job training programs in the area.
“I don’t know if they realize how dependent these programs are on donations,” said Cissy. “Unfortunately, it’s not said enough.”
Cissy noted that as part of a non-profit organization, Goodwill stores are different from the standard retail environment. She loves seeing customers find what they’re looking for at an unbeatable value. For example, Cissy assists many brides who come to Goodwill in search of an affordable wedding dress.
“They’re excited because they are able to find a gently used gown that looks beautiful, but doesn’t break their budget,” said Cissy.
This is why Cissy feels so strongly about supporting the programs that Goodwill offers. Despite a roller coaster economy, Cissy said that she hopes people will continue to donate to Goodwill and “realize the good their donations do to support the community.”
