‘My life’s work’ is gone. Donation mix-up leaves Fresno pastor bitter at Goodwill

Michael Engel used to be a regular Goodwill donor. But after Engel’s last experience, the retired pastor will be taking his donations elsewhere.

On May 17, at about 3:30 p.m., Engel dropped off several boxes of household items at the Goodwill store at 239 W. Shaw Ave. in Clovis. After an employee helped carry away the boxes, Engel requested and was given a receipt.

When Engel arrived back home in southeast Fresno, he suddenly realized that his backpack (and the valuable contents it contained) was missing. The backpack, he reasoned, must have been mistakenly removed from his vehicle and carried inside with the rest of the donated items.

Engel immediately called the store and informed the employee who answered about what just happened. The backpack was not intended as a donation. Unfortunately, after what he described as a “hasty search,” it could not be located.

Unsatisfied, Engel drove back to the Goodwill store at Shaw and Villa to plead his case in person. There, Engel encountered several employees (including the store manager) who appeared unsympathetic about the missing backpack and refused to let him search the back of the store. Even though Engel showed them his belongings were within a few feet of where they all stood, according to the “Find It” app on his iPhone.

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“That tired old excuse, ‘If we let one person, we’ll have to let everyone,’ ” Engel was told.

Along with: “There are so many bins, we have no way of even telling which one it’s in.”

And: “Probably on the truck already.”

“With one exception, every person I talked to seemed not to care in the least whether I got my personal property back,” Engel wrote in an email.

“One woman even had the gall to tell me, ‘Sorry, you’ll just have to take the loss.’ She might as well have rolled her eyes, the way she said it.”

Fresno man’s ‘life’s work’ gone

What inside the backpack was Engel so desperate to retrieve? A set of keys, a stack of stapled stories he had written and his laptop computer. On which were stored two completed (but unpublished) novels and three partial manuscripts.

“As a writer, my life’s work,” said the 76-year-old, who found time for writing following three decades as a pastor at a Lutheran church in Clovis.

Engel returned to the store the following morning and was given the same runaround. No, the backpack hadn’t turned up. No, you can’t look for it yourself. No, the manager doesn’t wish to speak to you again. No, I don’t know if the trucks have left or where they go. Sorry.

Frustrated by what was being told, Engel began searching for any Goodwill contact information he could find. He spoke to a live person who explained “the process” for donations. Engel eventually sent a long, detailed email to Steven Preston, the CEO of Goodwill International.

After a month of hearing nothing back, Engel sent the 1,200-word message my way. After reading it, I contacted the person who oversees Goodwill stores and distribution centers in the Fresno area: Denise Ost, president/CEO of Goodwill Industries of San Joaquin Valley Inc.

While Ost expressed sympathy for Engel after reading his email, two months after the fact there isn’t much she can do about it. Employees at the Clovis store followed the proper procedures, she said. It’s just an unfortunate situation.

Ost told me she spoke to the store manager and was assured that person personally searched for Engel’s backpack and laptop after he reported both missing. The manager also questioned the employee who helped carry boxes from Engel’s car.

Goodwill donations can’t be retrieved

What happens to items donated to Goodwill? According to Ost, that entirely depends on how many donations are coming into that particular store at that particular time. As well as how many employees are on hand to process them.

If things are backed up, it’s possible Engel’s backpack and valuable contents could have been tossed into a bin ― unopened ― and transported to Goodwill’s distribution warehouse on Central Avenue. Where it might remain until one of the stores runs low on inventory.

If Engel’s donation was processed right away, the backpack would’ve been emptied of its contents and handled separately: the laptop placed on a pallet for shipment to the warehouse and then on to the electronics recycling center; the backpack tossed into a bin with similar goods; and the keys given to the store manager as a personal item that may be collected later.

There’s really no telling what happened, nor any way to retrieve belongings once they’ve been handed over to Goodwill. That is particularly true at a busy store like the one in Clovis, which accepts between 200 to 300 donations per day.

“I am confident that our leadership team members at the Clovis Goodwill store made appropriate efforts to assist in retrieving the backpack that was unintentionally donated,” Ost said. “It is never our intention to disappoint a generous donor.”

Engel has a different definition of “appropriate efforts.” After what he experienced (it’s mainly the lack of sympathy from store employees that grates on him) he won’t be going back.

“I’m going to donate but not to Goodwill,” he said.