As the new year approaches, employees at the Goodwill on south Highway 97 will be putting in extra hours to keep up with a flood of incoming donations.

Darlene Hallam, supervisor at the Bend Goodwill, said the period just after Christmas is one of the busiest times for donations because people are looking for their last chance to get tax deductions for 2003.

”Starting this week will probably be the heaviest donation days,” Hallam said. ”In the past, there have been lines of cars all the way out to Jo-Ann Fabrics.”

Already this year, donations are up 28 percent over last year at the Bend store, the highest increase among the 31 stores in Goodwill’s Columbia/Willam-ette region.

Stores in Portland, Salem and Albany have seen donations rise 20 percent compared with last year.

No other Goodwill region in the world receives more donated goods than the Colum-bia/Willamette region, according to Goodwill officials.

In 2002, the region, which includes stores in northern Oregon and southwest Washington, collected 108 million pounds of donations.

This year, officials expect to break that record and collect 121.6 million pounds.

Local Goodwill officials are expecting the last-minute rush to push the Bend store above the 28 percent mark.

The success of the Bend store has also sped the timetable for construction of a Goodwill in Redmond.

”The original projection was four or five years out,” said Erin Fritz, senior store manager. ”Because the donations are so great, we get a lot of customers that call and want another store.”

Dale Emanuel, a spokeswoman for Goodwill Industries in Portland, said the grand opening for a Goodwill in Redmond is slated for the end of May, depending on the weather.

Emanuel did not have the location of the Redmond store, but said it would create about 30 new jobs.

Within the next five years, Emanuel said stores in Prineville and Madras could also be on the way.

Employees at the Bend store said donations have gone up every year since the store’s opening in 1999.

”It has a lot to do with demographics,” Fritz said of the Bend Goodwill. ”It is also the public getting to know the store and the ease of being able to donate.”

The store is open seven days a week and offers three donation pick-up sites at Target, Newport Avenue Market and Erikson’s Sentry Market.

By the end of the year, 3.6 million pounds of donations are expected to be collected at the Bend store alone.

In addition to an increase in the number of donations, Hallam said the quality of the goods being donated has also increased.

”We are getting wonderful furniture-good grade furniture like Ethan Allen,” Hallam said. ”Also higher priced items like collectibles and old books.”

For every dollar of sales at the store, more than 90 cents goes toward the employment of people with disabilities and special needs.

”We helped about 700 Central Oregonians find jobs last year,” Fritz said. ”It’s a free service. They walk into vocations services and they get help with resumes … and interview skills.”

Along with helping individuals find jobs throughout the community, the Bend Goodwill store employs nearly 50 people, many who have disabilities or special needs. Full-time employees are eligible for full benefits.

Kristy Hessman can be reached at 541-383-0350 or at khessman@bendbulletin.com.