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The mission at Goodwill can be very
very simply stated, which is to remove barriers that cause people
to not be independent. those can be physical barriers, they can be mental
barriers,
they can be transportation, housing, or jobs,
but it's to remove barriers so people can have the independence they deserve.
Everybody's story is different, and the amount of people that we help is just
amazing to me. And it's not just one situation it can be
you know all kinds of different situations. But
at the end of the day were helping people feel better about themselves
giving them opportunities and chances. We're making them feel like
they're worth something
I just can't think
of anything better.
It's more than just taking a donation and and selling it in our store,
it's what's done with that money. You know, you look at all of the
different programs we provide,
you know,
not that many years ago we were just doing employment services for people
with disabilities
Not only do we employ people in our stores that might not otherwise have
jobs, but we're able to do things like housing, like the transportation, like the
schools,
And a number of other things. And that just makes me feel like I am a part
of something very big. And making a difference.
I feel it every day.
My nickname was "Sugar Baby. I had to learn how to like
"Almedia." I didn't like Almedia. So with the good people I met here,
here would be good people admit him
I maintain my stability
my respectability, and I got to see my kids again through
people that I met here. they didn't know me. I had gave up my kids cuz I was on the street
doing everything that wasn't right.
I just against all that.
I wanted to do what I wanted to do. I didn't care about nobody else.
I was so close, to losing everything I had
but the people here at Goodwill stood by me.
This is my family. I done come a long ways here
and I plan to a long ways. I wanna go back to school, I wanna go to college.
Thanks to these people, I'm gonna go there. I'm gonna do that
but it's a opportunity
to me, cuz the computer was so
foreign to me that I didn't wanna have nothing to do with it
and I learned something new every-- I just learned how to do the e-books.
when you go on internet I just learned that yesterday!
And I'm proud of me, "Yeah! Go me!" I never knew that. (laughs)
But I'm learning something new everyday
and then I'm learning step-by-step. And just being in here
I've been clean and sober twelve years so as I
been working here too. I been here twelve years, I been clean and sober twelve years.
I get the support here, for my sobriety
and then I get the confidence here
in the people to help me better myself in the community, and i wanna give
so much back to the community.
I lost my vision and then I lost my husband
and then i lost my house. The best part of living here
is that I don't have to mow the yard, I don't have to worry about
maintenance,
because I can't call them. And I have safety here
I can come in and close my door, but there are people around.
I know a lot of people here
in the building and I have friendships that I don't have to go out and
worry about walking across the dark streeter or someplace
Because I can no longer drive. I can afford to live here
I could not afford to live where I was was living
because they raised the lot rent every year.
And, so living here, I'm close to everything, and I'm close to everyone, and
we help each other out. This is a community,
and this is a wonderful community, I'm
really... I like all my people around here.
I can stay home when I wanna stay home.
If I want to fix a meal, I can fix a meal. We have five meals per day
down at the dining room, And
usually when I'm home I go down, that's when I catch up on the house
gossip (laughs).
I don't have to go. There's nobody to tell me what I have to do.
I don't have to get up at a certain time, except for art class.
You know it's my life and I can do what I want to do in my life.
When I started here, in 1989,
I came to Goodwill because
because I wanted to work. I was at home for 20 years,
and before that I had a few bouts in the hospital.
I came down here, I got a job with Goodwill.
I've been with Goodwill ever since then.
(what do you do? What's your job?)
I post books, DVDs,
music, stuff like that. Right now, i sort books.
I sorted clothes, I've done just about everything.
I did hangers for
six and a half months here.
(what do you like about working here?) I have a job. My mom would like me to quit.
but I don't feel like sitting at home all the time.
TV's nice, but there's a lot of things besides TV.
(So you said you stayed home for 20 years?)
20 years. I didn't have a choice.
Either that or the hospital, and hospitals cost a lot of money.
(and how is your life different since you work at Goodwill?)
I made friends since I came to Goodwill. Before I had maybe two or three friends.
At most. And since I've come to Goodwill, I have all kinds of friends.
I'm currently a substitute teacher with the Lee County school system.
Mostly working over at Orangewood Elementary. I love it.
getting involved with the kids lives,
just educating them, and showing them that
despite their hardships, they can overcome their
their downfalls and continue to aspire to what they want to be, and...
"Mr Rocky, why are you in a wheelchair?"
I just tell them, this is how I was born I came on my mom and I needed a wheelchair
that's just how I was born so this is how I am, and they're
"Ok, that's cool." They're just so curious, and I love it because
I'd rather you ask, than, you know, make assumptions
because you don't know who I am unless you ask. Don't judge a book by its cover
That's what I always said.
High School High Tech, that's a program that originated with Goodwill.
I was involved with it while I was in high school.
And it is a great program that took us through
different organizations in the area, different work job work places in the
area, to show
the I'll accessibility and the capability are
different employee... different options for
individuals with disabilities. Allowed us to go and see that
just because our disability, it doesn't mean we can't get involved
in our community and in our workforce that we shouldn't just
lay back and take it, basically. That we need to
make our own way and fight for what our dreams and goals are
and it helped me pursue my dreams and my goals to
continue with my education and get into the workforce.
I personally really enjoyed
the shadowing program that they had. I actually got to
shadow a judge for a day and go and sit in court with him,
sit back in his courtroom and
where he delegates what he does. It was a great experience just being able to
see that, and see what that entails, 'cause
for period I'm I thought about becoming a judge, and running for judgeship.
so it really, they open up some neat areas
and so many avenues for you to explore your
dreams, your careers, your aspirations, and what you may want to do.
It gets the point, and though I've always had a positive attitude,
despite my disability, and the hardships and
the trials, it helped push me
to continue to dream, to aspire, to continue
working on my goals, and going towards my career
Well, I type descriptions of items
that have been donated by generous people
all around Southwest Florida. Those items
range from clothing, to shoes
to electronics, to even old items and vintage items.
And some are antique items.
When I was first born in November fifteenth, nineteen eighty-four
I had, I was suddenly diagnosed with autism.
To this day I have OCD, which is
obsessive-compulsive disorder. (How does that impact your job? Impact what you do here?)
I want to make sure I do my job right.
and then l try not to make mistakes. But
one time I had a mistake on the
flatware which I put as
sterling silver but it was actually silver plated. And one customer was mad.
But I wasn't worried about that, but I but I was in trouble for that.
I learned something called "constructive criticism."
(Good morning everyone, I'm Amy Van Patten with your ABC-7 news brief.)
Fifteen years ago, I was working out at the gym. I was actually working as a
television news anchor and reporter here
in Fort Myers for ABC-7. And I was at the gym one day after work, just as usual
doing my workout routine, when I collapsed. I was rushed to the hospital
where he was determined I had bleeding in my brain from an aneurysm that I
didn't know I had.
So I ended up having a total of about
four brain surgeries within about a five-month period
I helped several part-time jobs after I left. I had to leave the station, go on
disability from the station, because I just couldn't do the job well anymore.
Which was really disheartening for me, because I really loved my job, but it was
for the best.
Well, I knew of Goodwill as a used clothing store.
I had no idea they provided all the services that they do to disabled people.
And they ended up hiring me only after about a month. They said I was doing good enough that
and they ended up hiring me after about a month.
And it was a great job. It worked out really well
I did a lot of writing, which I love to do, and I was named Achiever of the Year, which was just
such an unexpected honor.
I'm really limited in what I can do.
Just because of the surgeries I've had, so what I do here is
perfect, you know. What what I'm doing here is just is the perfect fit for me.
There are so many cool people here. So many people with such
a wide range of disabilities. It's so nice to at work for a company that
works with people and employs people who have disabilities, you know.
If I weren't here I I definitely wouldn't be working, I don't think.
(If you weren't here here working with the folks at Goodwill,
Where do you think you'd be?)
Nowhere. (You'd be at home?) Yeah. (What would you be doing at home?)
Facebook.
Facebook.
(What kind of stuff do they have you doing?)
The hangers, and
the books, sodas, all that stuff.
(So it's kind of cool that you come here to work every day?) Yeah.
(What do you like about coming to work?) Getting my paycheck. (laughs)
I have a wife and five kids, so the opportunity to make more money was
definitely a plus for me, is something that I needed,
helped me out tremendously.
I got started taking donations at the back door.
and now though the company, I obtained a Class A
license, so not only did they
help me in case I did
want to go on further, you know, maybe I wanted to go over the road driving or
anything of that sort, they gave me the tools I would need to do it.
That's one thing about the Goodwill programs
I mean, there's always a way to better yourself,
they're gonna stick right by you. I'm doing a job now
that I didn't think that I would be be doing, but someone else
thought that I would be able to do it. They,
they helped me all the way through. You know, they do a lot,
and if anybody just took time out to really see exactly what all they did, they would be
very amazed.
I know I was. If I wasn't working at Goodwill,
I'm not sure where I'd be right now. This is one of the smartest decisions
I've made in my adult life yet, and I'm gonna keep giving them
110 percent, you know, just for believing in me
when I didn't believe in myself. I'm gonna go as far
in the company as I can possibly go. I make jokes with our
director all the time I'm coiming for his job. Eeven put my name
on the wall, covering over his one day, you know,
just to mess with him a little bit but, you know,
there's no limit. I don't think there is.
My husband and I have been working in the bakery business since 1979.
And my husband started in Germany and we met here in
Florida and we both started in the same industry.
And when we decided to venture on our own, we thought,
we should start our own bakery. After 25 years together we decided
yes, we'll do that. MicroEnterprise
really did a great job showing us how to do a business plan. That's
how we got our loan through the bank. And the bank,
the loan officer, was the one that said that's the best business plan he's
ever seen.
So that was, he was impressed by that and
they gave us a second look, kept looking at the figures. And
it has to be accurate. And they made us, you know, make sure that what we put in that
business plan was correct, it was accurate.
And that's how we got the loan. It was a miracle (laughs)at that time.
But we're happy. (Where do you think you'd be if it weren't for the MicroEnterprise program?) Probably working for someone else again
waiting
to somehow build up. Waiting for the bank,
the finance system, to come around to give small business
a loan again. Because at that time they were not giving, especially in the food
industry.
To customer: You have a good day. Thank You. Sorry about this.
If someone was thinking about doing the microenterprise program, I'd definitely highly recommend it.
And when you go there, pay attention. From day one, everything they're telling you,
you're gonna need it. You're going to need it at the end.
eighteen-year
and I'll be weatherization at Goodwill Industries of Catholic learn
when I can't any at their clients came to them mom at the age of 22 23 24
I may just gotten out of school but they weren't prepared for the
mark placed select out that if we started and younger
high school level and now even middle school
that they would be better prepared when they got out into the work force we
provide
arm up an environment for instance to
cannot necessarily function in that really large school and I'm
now tweet you wanna preparing to get out into the real world
which is a large in time but with our kids have to take baby steps
and sometimes when they go into the large schools there's no opportunity for
those baby steps
that's running with 1100 cared for and I'm its
just very difficult for them to adapt so we can have given at
the wading pool before returning to the big for
not taking any way by work
work is exciting and when they hold those paychecks oh my goodness
we take a picture I'm holding their first paycheck
and then they have to step out Calif group what they did
and then we can you earned it a check and we had in the paycheck
just like you're here and neck at a good way to learn about work
we make our graduation personal I'm if they graduated
way to school march from the others and in that class compression Kathy Ireland
of some we make our them other
graduated I have an opportunity for nightline
for Apple for sheltered workshop and that's something that
I is not always offered anywhere else and the skins that have gone to work
are still working and that's quite successful 29 years old I have three
children
aren't you better in school one that's arm still home
and
I work part time now right well
arm transportation
about two years ago
I their dad hand lost a job
com and then I lost my job two months after that
and so the transportation that we head
all we have to sell
shouldn't that be the Reno I gotta help position through the Salvation Army in
are Tuesday on the street bus
than anything %uh and then after I'm
keep unemployment for the six months
are and I what came qualify for the four wheels for work
and a think that ban
for are through the four wheels for work arm
so he wouldn't have to do in a bus transportation anymore
which helped out a lot 9
like doctors appointments a my
middle daughter arm has some medical problem so
does not have to take her to the doctors appointments and then
grocery store and a even actually to a laundromat you to go do
laundry arm grocery store
this anything that you would get your car to go do
not to go the bus cell we don't have the money here
yeah means of getting it for anyone the sign for you to help you to get
a car you know alone or anything like that it makes pretty
difficult slightly easier
I feel more a
free on last time they still forget I even have transportation up there to go
even
you know it to the Parkers to go anywhere arm
and yes sir mix-a-lot
easier just for everything school calls you know
I 1 I'm kids are sick or something happen
you know I can go go right there now sitting on okay I'll be there in two
hours for
I used to have kids put all book packs on their back
nice to have the bags and
the at the checkout as I get grocery bag so it does have the kids flying help
turn around I just loader little book bags up in
its own no are now I'm working permanently
at the corrections Corrections Department so
the income coming in and transportation
and
and measures yeah things are looking
looking up in the 10 years I've
had the good fortune to work for goodwill I've heard hundreds and
hundreds of stories from clients from customers from
boys most which were heartfelt
heartbreaking but there is always one common theme
that ran through all the stories that i heard is that the opportunities they
were provided by goodwill
positively changed their lives with them
at in a moving from the bailout facility which is 30,000 square feet to the
Opportunity Center here on ties 226,000 square feet with the Learning Center the
expanded school
has a capacity for 100 students now the
dole training centres provide training opportunities for
adults with disabilities those opportunities will be increased
exponentially as we go forward the future
I'm sitting in the wheelchair that broke out in the cold table
I'll I couldn't be here with the up well
the the hotel the world that might this poll
i won you got them to the top and the people I go we're helping me along the
way
I think that it's the individual that we impact
it has to be the driving force behind us and work alongside
people come through our job link services are people who have
disabilities to
were brought here through vocational rehabilitation
and you really can see how did well as impacted their lives
we're coming together are a common
hi everybody knows the nation and lacked the support Commission
the participation of all the people who have helped us over the years
something to treasure and died there times when I wish you could be with me
see could see the impact that your support does
and what it does to people's lives we thank you because we could not do it
without your efforts that make us
better