Success Stories
Pedro
Former union stage hand and family man, Pedro went to jail over a quarrel with his roommate; the charge was disobeying a police officer by returning to his apartment. While Pedro was incarcerated, he lost his job and his roommate sold all
his possessions, rendering him homeless on release from jail.
His union card had been suspended so he could not return to his regular line of work and he had no luck finding other work. He stayed in a motel until he ran out of money, then
began living at a park. He learned that sleeping on plywood discourages the ants. He was living under “a nice, shady tree by the freeway” when someone at his church told him about Goodwill’s job services.
His Goodwill job developer began working with him on finding a job. She gave him bus passes, interview clothing and money for a bicycle to get to work. Finally, a position came up for a forklift operator at Goodwill, and Pedro was hired in May 2008. Today he is lead bailer and fork lift operator, training other employees. With Goodwill’s help, he was able to move into an apartment. He is paying back child support and saving to pay back dues in order to reinstate his union card.
When he speaks of his Job Developer, Pedro smiles and says, “She’s great.
She gave me the encouragement I needed to get back on my feet again.
She’s persistent, too. I was at a point where I said, ‘Forget it, I give up,’ and
she opened my eyes to the fact that I was qualified and had just hit a rough
stretch of road. Then she gave me the tools I needed to do it myself.”
Bryan
Bryan is an affable young man with an engaging smile and an appreciation
for the good things in life, such as movies. He also happens to have a variety of challenges, including Asperger Syndrome. One of his favorite things is
watching movies, so when it was time to join the workforce, Bryan decided
he wanted to work in a movie theater. With his father’s help, he found a
part time job as an Usher at the Regal Theater in Santa Fe. Given Bryan’s
outgoing nature, it was no surprise that he’s really good at customer service.
His favorite thing about working at the movie theater is helping out in the
concession stand.
When Regal cut employee hours, the New Mexico Developmental Disability
Support Division referred Bryan to Goodwill, where a Job Developer helped
him find a second part time job as a Clerk at CVS Pharmacy. As a clerk, he
stocks shelves, straightens shelves and provides customer service.
Customers at CVS can always count on Bryan to help them
find things. “When I help people
find stuff, they’re nice,” he says.
He also helps with “capping” liquor bottles with anti-theft devices. When working the shelves, he also gets a kick out of “facing” the merchandise, which means moving the older dated items toward the front so people can buy those first. Bryan’s father, Jack, reports that Bryan also can’t resist facing merchandise at
the grocery store when they go shopping.
With the support of his family and Goodwill staff, Bryan is enjoying his vocational goal and is also able to watch free movies any time, compliments of the Regal Theater.
