Meet Emily. Emily was a recent high school graduate who spent her days sleeping late at her grandmother’s house. After receiving a referral from Vocational Rehabilitation, Emily completed Goodwill’s Career Impact Program and earned a job at Hy-Vee. Goodwill staff worked closely …...

Meet Heaven. The first thing you should know about Heaven: she never gives up. Starting at a young age, Heaven had to take on a lot of adult responsibilities, which made it hard for her to connect with her peers. When she turned 16, she started working where many of her family members work…...

Meet Robert. Robert came to us at the Goodwill GoodWORKS Career Center with his parole officer at his side. With less than 10 years left before reaching what he called his “retirement birthday,” Robert had anything but a typical work life.  Our GoodWORKS team assessed Rober…...

  Meet Kim. Kim chose Goodwill because the agency worked with her grandfather in the 1960’s. A Goodwill Career Navigator worked with Kim, often serving as a cheerleader and coach to help her realize her potential. The support she was given helped Kim keep from giving up. She said…

Meet Melody. Melody visited the free Goodwill GoodWORKS Career Center in August. She was in a transitional living program after incarceration. With help from Goodwill, she quickly found employment with a retail inventory company, but the job didn’t fully meet her needs. So, she contin…

Meet Shandi. Ten years ago, Shandi was a Goodwill success story. A client with great work ethic, she had earned and kept employment in her former placement. But when Shandi came back to Goodwill last year, she was not working. The loss of employment put her family in turmoil. She knew t…...

Meet Paul. Paul was ready for his second chance. He had great work experience as a store manager, but Paul also had barriers to employment. He has a health condition and a criminal record. His family situation deteriorated along with his health, and, after serving time in jail, he lost his f…...

Meet Kevin. Kevin's story shows the power of perseverance when it’s paired with Goodwill. A learning disability was just one barrier that made it difficult for Kevin to find work. His case worker with Missouri Vocational Rehabilitation referred him to Goodwill for hands-on he…...

Meet Colin. Colin has worked for Goodwill for six years! Pretty awesome, right? He works on the Computer Recycling team, which is a transitional employment program that partners with Dell to recycle computers. Though six years doesn’t seem transitional, at Goodwill we specialize …...

Meet Dwaylan. Dwaylan enrolled in  Goodwill Quest Academy eager to grow and learn. Quest Academy participants split their time between the classroom and a local internship to gain job skills and work experience. Dwaylan chose an IT internship and impressed his supervisors with his willi…...

“The Goodwill Quest Academy program was life changing for our son. This program also changed our family. Having hope to find some kind of employment for him, we learned from Goodwill it could be a reality.” – Louise Starr Meet Tim. Tim and his family were told to be ha…

Meet Sean. When Sean graduated in 2013 with a degree in Speech Communications, he didn’t anticipate how difficult it would be to find a job. Over time, he became increasingly shy. Sean lived with his mom and without his job, their living situation deteriorated. They washed clothes by h…

Meet Brett. Brett moved to his mom’s home in the summer of 2015. He was selling his plasma weekly to pay for their utility bills. Brett desperately needed a job, but a disability impaired his ability to read and write, and consequently pass a written driver’s test. Without a driv…...

“When I called Goodwill for the first time and [someone] picked up, I knew what I had found. I found a good place…and it just kind of went from there.”     Meet Kim. She may seem familiar to you, because she came to Goodwill a few years ago after searching …

To say Preston doesn’t like change would be a major understatement.  When he first enrolled in Project SEARCH, he refused to come into the classroom and meet Goodwill’s Skills Trainer and the teacher from the North Kansas City school district. Project SEARCH is a partnershi…

Meet Derek. Derek had no money to renew his driver’s license, repair his car, or buy a phone when he came to Goodwill's GoodWORKS Career Center. For months, Derek poured his energy and time into finding employment. At GoodWORKS, he developed his…

Meet Shelley. Shelley was a Goodwill client in early 2014, when we first provided guidance and an opportunity for her to succeed. She quickly earned employment at a local janitorial company. After a couple of years, Goodwill saw the company slowly decline and a handful of client…...

Meet Darrell. In early 2014 Darrell received placement help and job coaching from Goodwill for a dishwasher position at a Bob Evans restaurant. But our services didn’t stop there. In May 2015, Bob Evans restaurant closed and Darrell was suddenly unemployed. He put in a few applications…...

Zachary has a way of talking to his employees that make them respect him and want to follow him. He’s not just a supervisor - he’s a leader. When Zachary started at AbilityOne, his wife and children were thousands of miles away, and he struggled with poor attendance. Rather than…

Meet Keshaun. Keshaun participated in Goodwill’s Quest Academy (formerly Urban Career Academy) for career exploration after leaving high school.  Through this program, he gained work experience at Showtime Auto Detailing. At the completion of the program, he was immediately offer…...

Meet Michael. Michael visited Goodwill on his day off from work to share some big news.  Looking at the smile on his face, you would never guess how many obstacles, barriers, headaches, and heartaches he's endured. Before coming to Goodwill, Michael spent six hours each workday commuti…

The Holidays are much brighter for Clarence Brown after he got just the gift he wanted …a full-time job. “Last year I wasn’t able to get Christmas gifts for my kids like I wanted to, but now that I’m working, I’m able to get them a little something so it…...

Meet Jayla. After graduating high school, Jayla was eager to find a job that was perfect for her. To get the skills she needed to start a career, Jayla participated in Project SEARCH, a high school transitional program that provides real-life work experience to help youth with significant b…...

Meet Ron. Looking for a job can be overwhelming, especially if it’s your first job – this was the case for Ron. Ron came to Goodwill in May for job search assistance, having never been employed before. The AbilityOne team worked with him to identify important work-related skill…

Meet Josh. After overcoming challenges to graduate from high school, Josh was eager to enter the workforce. Understanding that he needed additional support to secure a job, he and his family turned to Goodwill.Together with his Goodwill Career Navigator he searched for job openings, complete…...