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(rock music)
STEVE HENNESSEY: Jobs are hard to get, I know.
People are looking for work all the time
and they can't find work.
I had an interview somewhere, can't remember where it was,
and I know what the problem was.
It's always my disability.
People have got disability,
and they don't hire people,
people who have a handicap they don't.
JIM: You start the day about--
STEVE: Eight A.M.
(laughs)
JIM: You don't, that's five miles from here.
STEVE: Oh, I need exercise.
JIM GERMER: It was a citizen advocacy program where you pair up,
and the words we used at the time
were advocate and protege.
We're just friends, and we've been friends for 35 years.
RON RIFE: Everybody in here that has known Steve,
he's like family to all of us.
C. ARLEN BEAM: He's simply Mr. Reliable.
(gentle music)
CLIFF TAYLOR: Steve is a man of routines,
so he gets here every day about four o'clock,
and I think he's happy to come here
because this is a place he's been coming to for so long
and he knows all the people here.
STEVE: Well, good morning, Cliff.
CLIFF: Morning, Steve.
I think we kinda hit it off
and we've had a good rapport ever since.
We both like to kinda tease each other,
and we've got that built up over about nine years,
so it's a rich experience, I guess.
You think the show's good enough
that they're gonna make a second season?
STEVE: I hope they do.
CLIFF: He has a good character, he has a good attitude,
and I'm proud to know the guy.
You know, I'm proud to kind of share an hour every day
with him and to be a part of his routine
and to have him as a part of our routine.
(cheerful music)
RON: It can be pouring, it can be 10 below zero or 100 degrees,
and Steve walks every morning to work.
He reports, I think, around 5:15.
It doesn't matter.
He's gonna get here one way or another.
BEAM: I think that's remarkable given Nebraska's winters,
especially in blizzards and so forth,
but he makes it through and he's here and he's on time
and he's not ruffled, and the rest of us have had
to scoop our cars out of the snow and so forth,
and it's sort of a nice feeling to come in
and everything is kind of an even keel with Steve.
LADY: We're down 21.
STEVE: I'm going, "Oh boy, what happened here?"
(bright music)
RON: If everyone in this building had his work ethic,
they would get so much more work done.
He doesn't stop.
You can't get him to take a break.
(gentle music)
RON: He wants to be here.
I think this is his family.
This building and the people that work in this building
that he's know for years are part of his family,
and I'm happy to be one of those.
JIM: Hopefully I've been that for Steve,
someone he can always count on.
I can't say if there's anything I said or did
that helped him out.
I think if anything did, it was Goodwill's program
that enabled him to be independent,
have his own apartment, not be on any public benefits,
and have a retirement account and all those things
that go along: having his own apartment,
getting his own groceries,
living his own life independently as he wants to live.
That's done most of it.
I really do think if it weren't for Goodwill
as the one constant in his life
over the 35 years, 37 years I've known him
that has enabled him to get where he is now.
(bright music)
JIM: The Goodwill Industries International Achiever
of the Year Award,
and that means international, worldwide.
SPEAKER: The joy that you have brought to all of us
and the inspiration you've brought to all of us.
Thank you.
STEVE: No, thank you.
(audience applauds)
BEAM: We sort of realized that
what he was doing was really good stuff for us.
RON: We're all happy that he's receiving
this kind of recognition.
JIM: And out of 500 applications,
500 people applied for that award
as the Achiever of the Year,
and Steve was the one that got it because of his history
and where he began and where he ended up
and his accomplishments over the years.
(audience applauds)
JIM: That was quite a moment for Steve,
where you're in front of 500 people
and they're up on the microphone,
and so we had kind of written a speech out ahead of time,
and he said, "Jim, can you read it?"
JIM: Steve is shy, a little shy,
but in addition to being such a good worker,
so committed, having such a high level
of common sense and integrity,
Steve also is good at giving dictation,
and so Steve asked if we would say this, basically.
(audience laughs)
JIM: Everybody in the room came up
and gave him a standing ovation
and it was just the highlight of his life
and it was just all he could do
to keep from busting into tears,
because it's a really neat moment for him,
for as far as he's come, as lonely as he's been, to be there
and receive that kind of inspirational accolade.
It was a wonderful thing to see.
You don't realize as the time goes by,
then all of a sudden the time's gone by
and you've been friends for nearly 40 years.
It's something inexplicable,
but when you sit down in a room with him
and talk with him for a few moments,
you know, and get past a bit of the shyness,
then you discover this is one really neat guy
who just brightens up everybody's life.
And it's really hard to put into words the why,
other than that I think he's a joyful guy
because he gives joy.
(bright music)