COLUMBUS — Goodwill Columbus turned an afternoon of applause into more than $270,000 for Central Ohioans building pathways to independence, as 350 community leaders, partners and supporters gathered Oct. 30 at the Hilton Columbus at Easton for the 37th annual Extraordinary People Luncheon. Goodwill Columbus reported the results on Nov. 12, saying the afternoon was a celebration of resilience, opportunity and people living lives of possibility and purpose.
The giving included a challenge the room met in full. Attendees and partners raised more than $270,000 in all, including successfully meeting a $10,000 day-of matching gift challenge made possible by The Robert Weiler Company, according to Goodwill Columbus. Every dollar raised supports Goodwill Columbus programs that help individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities and job seekers across Central Ohio build pathways toward independence, the organization says.
The heart of the luncheon was its three 2026 Extraordinary Honorees: Sonja Nelson, Michael Bohanan and Sasha Macarus. Goodwill Columbus says the honorees’ journeys are a reminder of why its work matters — people overcoming barriers to work, independence and fuller participation in their communities, recognized in front of the employers, sponsors and neighbors who help fund that work.
Goodwill Columbus shared each honoree’s story with the room in a video tribute, with the three stories also posted alongside its luncheon recap. The format is the point of the afternoon: before the ask comes the evidence — three Central Ohioans whose work, independence and daily lives show donors exactly what their money makes possible, in the words and images of the people living it.
The afternoon was emceed by Angela An, a 10TV news anchor and eight-time Emmy Award winner, according to Goodwill Columbus. The luncheon is in its 37th year, making it one of the organization’s longest-running traditions and one of its signature fundraisers.
Guests also shopped with a purpose. A pop-up gallery from the Goodwill Art Studio & Gallery offered original artwork by artists with disabilities, and attendees bought 25 original artwork pieces and eight mural renderings, raising $1,882 for the artists and the studio program, Goodwill Columbus says. The studio’s model is built around independence: artists earn a 70 percent commission on every sale, with the remaining 30 percent reinvested in studio supplies.
The sponsor bench behind the afternoon was deep. Presenting sponsors were Elevated Integrity, Grange Insurance and the Ohio Power Company Foundation, with Nationwide, Origo Branding and Stonehenge Partners as gold sponsors, according to Goodwill Columbus. Silver sponsors included Coastal Ridge, FCBank, KeyBank, KPMG, Lindsay Honda, OhioHealth and Vaco by Highspring, and the bronze tier stretched from BakerHostetler and CASTO to Nationwide Children’s Hospital and Columbus State Community College — a cross-section of the region’s business community turning out for the cause.
The bronze sponsor tier alone ran to dozens of Central Ohio names — Able Printing, AndHealth, Carmen’s Distribution Systems, CFBank, Delta Dental, Elford, Genesis Building Systems, Lument, McGohan Brabender, Mettler-Toledo, Minutemen Workforce Solutions, National Church Residences, Porter Wright, Primary Solutions and Vorys among them, according to Goodwill Columbus. For a nonprofit, that breadth matters as much as the headline total: it is the difference between one generous patron and a whole business community with a standing stake in the mission.
Goodwill Columbus, headquartered on South High Street in Columbus, runs the programs the luncheon funds year-round: services for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, job-seeking support, and the art studio whose artists were selling work in the ballroom. The luncheon model — one afternoon, one room, one clear ask — converts that daily work into a single visible show of support, and this year the room answered with more than a quarter of a million dollars.
The Columbus luncheon is part of a season of Goodwill giving across Ohio. In Cincinnati, the Goodwill Service Guild honored veterans at its annual luncheon, as NewsForce247 reported in its coverage of the Cincinnati veterans luncheon. And across Central Ohio, charitable crews are gearing up for winter needs, including the Scarf Project’s free winter-gear handouts, covered in NewsForce247’s Scarf Project report.
What happens next. The date is already set: the next Extraordinary People Luncheon is Sept. 24, 2027, and Goodwill Columbus is inviting interest in the 2027 event now. For the people its programs serve, the work the money funds — job coaching, disability services, an art studio that pays its artists — continues Monday morning, long after the ballroom clears.