Helping People Attain Their Own Measure of Greatness: By Megan Myers

Abraham Maslow, humanistic psychologist, wanted to understand what motivated people. He believed that everyone had underlying drives to fulfill needs that are innate in all of us. In 1943, Maslow was able to create a type of pyramid, arranged and hierarchical form of people’s basic needs.

The programs at Goodwill of Ashtabula help clients achieve the lower base needs of the hierarchy by teaching them fundamental skills. We do this so they can move up in the pyramid and eventually attain self-actualization. We offer them a hand-up, not a hand-out. The PRIDE (Personal Responsibility in Developing Employment) program here at Goodwill provides clients with the opportunity to develop workplace skills, such as specific job duties and work ethic, all while addressing barriers to unemployment, such as an unstable home environment and transportation issues. PRIDE staff helps to overcome these barriers, allowing clients to achieve their highest potential of self-actualization.

The Youth Work Program in Lake County provides services to youth such as training, career guidance, work experience, mentoring, and supportive services. Staff helps the youth to achieve primary needs, such as housing and putting food on the table, so that they can achieve a basic kind of a physiological comfort level.

Job development and Job Placement programs help to match a place of employment to the abilities of the client. The program manager is an advocate on behalf of the client. This specific matching helps the client to have a better sense of belonging in their job of choice.

Community Work Adjustment and Work Adjustment programs provide clients with a work experience to better their on-the-job skills for a set amount of time. An example of this would be having a client work at an outside (or inside Goodwill) company for 20 hours per week for 12 weeks. The placements are geared toward the client’s needs and interests, allowing the client to overcome any barriers they may have, such as developing job readiness skills. Job coaching is a service specifically for people with disabilities. Staff teach the clients specific job duties and offer support. This support pushes the clients to achieve a greater understanding of themselves and the abilities they bring to the work world.

Overall, Maslow’s hierarchy shows us various sets of needs that we, ideally, will be able to advance through in our lifetime. Sometimes, unfortunately, people find themselves stuck on lower levels. Our aim, here at Goodwill, is to help every client achieve their highest potential. 

Persistent Pauneese: By Chloe Quinn

If you look up the word ‘persistent’ in the dictionary, it wouldn’t surprise me to find Pauneese Lewis’ name next to the word. She volunteered that “Pauneese” is actually a Native American name.  She is a Janitorial Worker at the Canfield garage, managed by Goodwill Industries.  Pauneese has been with our organization for almost two years, and in that time has amazed her bosses Dee Myers and Karen Thompson with her tenacity, attention to detail, and most of all, her persistence in getting the job done.

                Pauneese Lewis is a native of Youngstown, but now lives in nearby Campbell with her family. She  says “I love my job. You shouldn’t take work for granted.  All of the people are so nice, they come up to me and say that I do a good job, and that really touches my heart.” Pauneese’s job includes basic custodial work—cleaning buildings, mopping, washing windows, and keeping supplies stocked.

 One of the central things about Pauneese’s work ethic that amazed Dee was that she gets dropped off over a mile from her work place every day, and walks over a mile each way just to get to work. She does this in any type of Ohio weather, which we all know can be brutal- especially over the last couple winters, one of which was particularly frigid.

                Dee was also happily surprised in Pauneese’s work ethic, because she hasn’t missed a day of work at all, except when her mother passed away. Even then, she made sure to schedule her time off with ODOT (Ohio Department of Transportation) so as not to cause any problems at the garage.  Her dedication has been unparalleled in Dee’s experience, and she is happily surprised by Pauneese’s commitment to her job.

                “She is a phenomenal worker. She has never called off, she always smiles… and she walks over a mile each day in the weather, no matter what it is like outside.  Pauneese is a treasure, and we are lucky to have her as a part of the team,” Dee shared.

Karen Thompson, Supervisor of two Mahoning County and Trumbull county ODOT offices, Pauneese’s direct supervisor, also had this to say about Pauneese. “She is very conscientious about knowing what needs to be done.  She walks to work in the snow, rain and sleet and has not missed a day. It’s a big relief off of me that if I can’t get there, things are going to run smoothly.  She keeps up on what she needs to do, and is very good about letting us know if there’s something that needs to be taken care of.  She is a very good worker—I’m very proud of her.  She’s been a blessing.”

Workers like Pauneese are the backbone of what makes Goodwill a force in the industry. If it weren’t for people like her who take their jobs seriously, we would not have any of the success that we do. We give Pauneese kudos on a job well done, and wish her the best of luck in the future.

Touching on Greatness: By Harry Corbissero and Chloe Quinn

                There was a sense of pending excitement in the air…

                The tables were adorned with centerpieces of mason jars filled with baby’s breath, and the tablecloths were sprinkled with small stones encircling each of these simple vases.  The theme of this year’s annual awards banquet was Stepping Stones to Greatness. There was a large crowd of highly animated Goodwill friends in attendance this past May 4^th, at an event help at the Elk’s Lakefront Lodge. 

               

The banquet theme was introduced by Goodwill CEO Eric Schwarz.  Harry had written the words that explain its tie-in to this specific celebration. “We all need stepping-stones of one kind of another to help us navigate our way through the rough currents of life, places to rest of otherwise buoy us at those instances we might otherwise flounder. Goodwill plays a pivotal role in providing such support and assistance, and has done so for many years now in accord with the sentiment expressed by its visionary founder, Dr. Edgar J. Helms, back in 1902: ‘Friends of Goodwill, be dissatisfied with your work until every handicapped and unfortunate person in our community has an opportunity to develop his fullest usefulness and enjoy a maximum of abundant living.’ In other words, as in our modern-day translations of Dr. Helm’s original idea, to help each person who comes through our doors attain his or her own measure of greatness.”

                The night was full of laughter, chatter and good cheer, but the true culmination of the evening came following the sumptuous dinner with the granting of awards to the designated recipients we had chosen to honor this year. Each of them had worked hard overcoming barriers to employment and they shared their compelling and touching stories with courage and candor when in turn they took the stage.

             

Esmond Colvin, Achiever of the Year, had this to say. “Give a man a fish—you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish- you feed him for a lifetime,” wisdom Esmond gleaned from the Bible.  

               

He added, “When I came to Goodwill in 2014, I was just looking for a job, but because of my criminal background, a lot of companies around here turned me down. “

               

Goodwill functioned as a stepping-stone to help Esmond repent for mistakes in his past, gain new respect for himself, and be provided the opportunity to pass it forward—now in the leadership role his hard work has earned him, as Production Supervisor at the home base location. “Goodwill gave me that second chance that a lot of people do need.  I remember this with every client we serve.” Esmond concluded.

                Graduate of the year, Randy Brown, is another true success story.  He had come to us about a year ago as a mental health consumer with no prior work experience.  His programming with us initially helped Randy come alive and learn about work. In rapid succession he advanced himself and found greatness at Guyreino’s Deli, working as a dishwasher.  From having been an “outsider,” Randy now has an integrated place in the social sphere, and displays this pride through his impeccable work ethic.

                Daniel Fox, a retail associate at the Andover Goodwill store, was named our Employee of the year.  Before coming to us in a work program, Daniel had been unemployed since 2008, leaving an industrial career after having been diagnosed with a psychosocial impairment.

                Goodwill helped Daniel get a new lease on life and unearth new potential within himself, greatness he never knew he had.

                Many in the audience were touched by his speech and he was met by loud applause when in this present confident mode he concluded by saying, “The gentleman you see before you is not the gentleman who came to Goodwill in 2014.”

                Our final award was for Employer of the Year, bestowed upon Tim Meola, Guyreino’s Deli and Catering operator, an enlightened community business man  willing to extend a helping hand to help others—like Randy Brown—advance themselves.

                Tim shared that he had started working in the kitchen of his father’s enterprise at the ripe age of 10.  He also said that he learned very early on what the true quality of a good employee was, and that having these either makes or breaks your business.  He expressed his thanks for having been chosen for this award, and voiced his pleasure about having Randy join the ranks in his kitchen crew. “He’s never missed a day of work,” Tim shares, to hearty applause, “and it’s our most difficult job to fill.”

                Overall, the night was truly memorable, full of revelry and fun, as well as constituting a remembrance and honoring of what is at the heart of the Goodwill mission.

                These impressions will last in our memory for a very long time.

Taking the WHOA out of WIOA: By Matthew McCray

In 2014, the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act was signed into law by President Obama. I listened intently to the speech Obama gave from a conference room in an amorphous office building in Pittsburgh with my fellow Workforce Development Professionals as he described the legislation and the role it would play in transforming our workforce. I could not wait to get my hands on a copy to read through it. I printed a PDF of it out as soon as I could and marveled at the phone book-like size of the legislation. I was not alone in my zeal to get my hands on a copy of WIOA on that sweltering day in July. Nearly every Workforce Development organization, lawyer, state legislator and even curious bystanders joined me. Given its scope and grand vision, not to mention some ambiguous wording, the implementation of WIOA on the national level has been slowed greatly as the ins and outs of what the law was intended to do have been scrutinized and interpreted perhaps more than any other legal document in history aside from the Constitution. As a result, the deadline for implementation of WIOA has been pushed back repeatedly. July 1 of this year is the day the law will finally take effect.

So why has WIOA been so intimidating and difficult to implement? The main reasons are the transformational nature of the funding sources as well as the programming that is possible under the law. It is important for us to understand the law as it governs and provides the means for us to provide services that perform the most elementary and fundamental task of Workforce Development: to connect those looking for jobs to the jobs they are looking for. Many of the programs that we will be rolling out in the coming weeks, months and years will fall under the purview of WIOA.During the composition of WIOA, lawmakers asked themselves a key question in regards to the now defunct Workforce Investment Act: “If we weren’t already doing this and had to begin anew, would we be doing things the same way?” The answer to that question inspired the drastic overhaul of the existing law that resulted in WIOA. The main tenants of WIOA are congruent with our mission here at Goodwill:

1.     Increase focus on serving vulnerable members of society in a vocational capacity

2.     Expand relevant education and training options

3.     Remove barriers to employment to facilitate success

WIOA provides for a variety of services that revolve around these three main points for nearly every population. It is my goal that we here at Goodwill utilize the newly available funding through WIOA to shape the Workforce throughout the area that we service. It is also my goal that we will eventually be able to provide employment services to every member of every community. It goes without saying that the areas that we serve have suffered a great deal economically. We have a real opportunity to make a big impact and bring about the change that our service area so desperately needs. Together we will rise up to meet the challenges the tasks in front of us present. I am looking forward to working with everyone as we roll up our sleeves and get to work.

Goodwill in Depth: By Doreen Nowakowski

Whenever people think of Goodwill they usually think of our Retail Stores, in fact many times when I tell people I work at Goodwill their first comment is usually – “Which store do you work at?”    I love it when they say this because it gives me an opportunity to tell people exactly what Goodwill really does!!!!   

I usually start by telling them that I really don’t work in a store, I work in an office in the Ashtabula Harbor above the Harbor Goodwill Store.   I tell them I help with their accounting and help with their contracts program.   I explain our mission of providing job training and placement for people for many varied backgrounds.  Usually they respond with something like, “I knew they helped people.”  This gives me the perfect opportunity to really impress.

I then tell them that in order to help people Goodwill provides many different types of work activity positions for them to try work experience in the community in the hope of finding the “right job fit for them”.  I ask them if they were aware that we offer custodial and lawn care services and they usually respond no.  I tell them Goodwill has custodial crews that work 24/7 maintaining the rest areas on I90 in Ashtabula and Lake Counties and on Route 11 in Ashtabula County.  We also clean offices extending our services and opportunities into Cortland and Canfield.  This gets their attention.  Then I mention we also provide lawn care services for Ohio American Water, Dominion East Ohio Gas Company, the City of Conneaut and others.  Now they are really impressed.  I explain that the stores and the contracts departments are merely a means to the end – A JOB FOR EVERYONE!

This year I am happy to report I can now tell them goodwill is running the concession stand at Walnut Beach.  This will provide an avenue for Goodwill to teach Food Service and Food Safety Skills and we will be providing Serve Safe training in the near future.  At Goodwill our team never stops helping people help themselves to a better future and we are glad to be able to assist in providing opportunities to people who are looking for a hand up.