Six years ago, I was a single mother raising two young children while living in a low-income housing community. Determined to support my family, I enrolled in Goodwill’s Certified Nurse Assistant Training Program.
Category: My Story
My Story: Dammond Devon Steen, Jr.
Eventually, raising four kids became too much for my 19-year-old mom, and I landed in foster care. Even then, I did okay in school. I was on track to graduate. But that never happened. I got into a fight at school – with a police officer. I was arrested. If I would have stopped for one second to think about it, I wouldn’t have gone to jail, but I didn’t think. I acted. The result was a year in prison. Adult prison, not 'juvie'.
My Story: Tieausha Thomas
I was raised by my single mother of five children who struggled with drug addiction. What can I say? Life was extremely hard. We always seemed to lack the basic necessities.
My Story: Charles Gourlay
Let me introduce myself, my name is Charles A. Gourlay, and I’m a computer salvage/material handler at Goodwill in Gary, IN. Shortly after birth I was diagnosed with spinal meningitis which resulted in total loss of hearing by the age of two.
My Story: Patrice Blackstock
I became a mom at the age of 15. I hadn’t any real guidance because my mom was often sick. I got involved with the wrong crowd very early in life. I just wanted to belong, be loved and appreciated.
My Story: David George
The beauty I have found in others and their help far exceeds any expectation I would ever have. With that being said, the help I received from Goodwill® and their training programs gave me the skills I needed to excel in life. The soft skills training course taught me to learn people skills and the ability assert myself to give the proper direction to others in ways to help themselves to help me gain what is needed to motivate in a team comradery.
My Story: Crystal Jacobs
My name is Crystal Jacobs and I was born deaf. Much of my life and the decisions I’ve made have been regulated by fear. Fear of being different, fear of failure, fear of feeling alone. Most people don’t think the divide between hearing and deaf to be that big of a deal, but it’s something I had a lot of trouble with. I’m not confident in the way I talk or sound, and this caused a lot of issues for me and how I interacted with people who can hear.
My Story: Angelo Pegeuese
My name is Angelo Pegeuese. I was born and raised in Winston-Salem, NC. I was a troubled teenage boy who was raised by a single mother. I started getting into trouble with the law at the age of 14 and in 2005, when I was 18, I was convicted of multiple offenses and sentenced to 12 years in prison. Those had to be the toughest years of my life.
My Story: Yolande Zabre
My story begins in July 2010 when I arrived in London, Ontario from Burkina Faso in West Africa, where education for girls is not a priority. It is a very poor country with a lot of political corruption. I experienced quite a culture shock moving to Canada. I faced three main challenges on my journey to a better life: a language barrier, an educational barrier and a work experience barrier. I had two options: either fight or go back home to unknown ground. I decided to tackle my challenges.
My Story: Randy Bakker
I was born with hydrocephalus, a condition that caused pressure on my optic nerve, and I have been visually impaired most of my life. As a young man in the late 1970s, I enrolled in a work training program at Goodwill Industries of Central Iowa (Des Moines). I was hired as a dishwasher at the Iowa State Capitol, where I worked for 14 years. I later worked for the Iowa Department for the Blind for two years. But then I did not work for a period of about 10 years.
My Story: Travis McCausland
Travis McCausland is a Recognition Programs Associate at the Randolph Air Force Base in Texas. He is also a graduate of the Good Careers Academy at Goodwill of San Antonio (TX).
My Story: Virginia Finster
Looking at how I could move forward in life and what my next step was, I knew that education was something that had to be done. As far as what I could do, I wasn’t sure. I knew that I had little money and I had little time, but I needed something that would catapult me into a career where I could support my children and move forward in life.
