Welcome back! My goal is to educate and excite you about all that Goodwill does for our community and what it can possibly do for you and/or your business! If this is the first blog you have read in this series, please feel free to see how it all got started from my first entry here.
This week, we are going to take a look at an individual who is employed through one of our contracts. Julia Shelton works in Harpers Ferry servicing a contract we hold with the National Parks Service. Here is her success story!
Julia was initially referred to Goodwill and started out hanging and tagging clothes in our Martinsburg store. Although faced with barriers to employment, this opportunity provided insight. Julia says that, “I learned some important things about myself. I am employable, I am adaptive, and I work to be the best I can be at whatever I’m tasked with!” This type of attitude is what makes our work so rewarding!
When this opportunity ended, Julia worked a few short term jobs and continued to stay in touch with her contacts at Goodwill. During one conversation with them, Julia off-handedly mentioned how comfortable she was with Microsoft Excel. Soon after, she was contacted about a clerical receptionist position that Goodwill needed to fill. She was nervous but also very excited about this new middle-skills opportunity. “So that’s how I got to be where I am now. This has been an amazing opportunity and the government employees I work with everyday are great people who do great work!”
Horizon Goodwill does so much to help so many. And there are so many more people out there for us to help! Sometimes it just takes that first step before you are able realize your full potential. “I think I thought I was a burden or something. But there are so many people who go through this (Goodwill) system and realize, like I did, that we are more capable than we sometimes think we are!” This is why we are here and what Horizon Goodwill is all about. Removing barriers, creating opportunities.
Thanks for reading! Please feel free to contact me with questions or comments regarding the blog or what our Business Services division can do for you! bmarks@goodwill-hgi.org