Boston-based Goodwill Industries is celebrating its 100th birthday this year by giving the gift of a helping hand to those who are looking for work.

The $2 billion nonprofit corporation, with 1,800 locations, is expanding its job placement services and hopes to broaden its public image beyond that of a place to dump old clothes.

Lawrence’s Goodwill chapter provides an example of the changes the organization is going through across the country, officials with the nonprofit corporation say.

Goodwill, 2540 Iowa, began offering a 12-week job training program last year and has plans to expand the program. It has preliminary plans to begin offering job-training services in its second-hand clothing and merchandise store, near 31st and Iowa streets, which opened in September.

The new center would provide employees with extra training on various computer programs.

Kimberly Waugh, a Goodwill case coordinator, said Goodwill officials believe the new center might fill a void in the Lawrence market, because they believe many area employers are forced to send employees to training centers in Kansas City or Topeka.

“We think we can be more convenient, and hopefully since we’re a nonprofit we can provide the services at a price more businesses can afford,” Waugh said.

The company consistently has seen enrollment in its training program increase since it began operating in Lawrence. But the increases have been particularly dramatic in recent months with the layoffs of Farmland Industries employees in Lawrence and those of EFTC, an Ottawa manufacturer of avionics circuit boards.

“Unfortunately, increases in our business means a decrease in everybody else’s, but with the economy the way it has been, we have been growing, and it looks like we’re going to keep growing for a while,” Waugh said.

The program provides help with resume preparation and gives students interview training. But Waugh said many students use the program to update their computer skills.

“Lots of us have worked on computers before, but technology has just bypassed us,” said Betty Guder, a former 10-year employee at Farmland who is now taking the class. “Just based on the ads in the paper, it seems like you have know these things if you want to get a new job anymore.”

The Associated Press contributed information for this story.