For many folks – clients and staff
alike – Goodwill is a place to pass through, on the road to “bigger and better
things.” For some others of us, however, no matter how we got here, it is a
place to stay, because under the Goodwill banner we had found the best!
I had no idea this would be my outcome when I first joined ranks with
Goodwill Industries of Ashtabula, Inc. back in 1987, originally as an
independent contractor, hired to teach an eight week class called Personal
Adjustment.
Marilyn Katzman (now deceased) was the
person who innovated the program, but who allowed me the opportunity to
re-interrupt the prescribed agenda in a personal manner, doing so in accord
with my creative aptitude and fine arts background.
My approach as an instructor was thus
both to see and deal with the people in our programming as “masterpieces in
progress,” seeking further resolution. Actually this credo has served me
profoundly well over the years working with an agency devoted to helping people
expand their potential and move along the life path, veering toward their own
version of success.
I became a full-time employee at
Goodwill in 1994, continuing to tinker with and expand my agenda, while
remaining faithful to its original premise. It has never let me down.
I’ve had the opportunity to learn so
much from the people I’ve encountered here over the years, I couldn’t begin to
tell you all of the stories… Even so, I thought I could distill some of that
learning down into a few concrete ideas that may have relevance to share.
All of us need to know we have value,
regardless of our life circumstance. Over the years I’ve discovered this
deficit of self-belief at the crux of much pain and suffering in a person’s
life.
All people respond favorably to
encouragement, when it is offered up in a spirit of sincerity. I’ve discovered
too many people have been told “they can’t,” and need to learn that willingness
to try constitutes an empowering first step.
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