Antonio Hall, CVS
When Antonio Hall graduated from the Urban Assembly School for Performing Arts and received his diploma at age 18, he needed career direction. He had never worked, was not sure where he could work, or how to get a job. The fact that Antonio had been diagnosed with a Mild Intellectual Disability and Autism Spectrum […]
Angela Bernard, Goodwill Connects Vets
Angela Bernard is a US veteran and a single mom in her early 40s who lives in Bloomfield, NJ with her two daughters. Angela came to Goodwill Connects Vets in early 2022 when her job cut her hours and pay due to the pandemic. She was also facing eviction. Today, thanks to Goodwill NYNJ, Angela […]
Robert Sauerwein, Goodwill Connects Vets
Robert Sauerwein , an US army veteran, found himself homeless when his landlord decided to sell the private home where he lived and evicted him and the rest of the tenants without notice. At the time, Robert, who is single in his fifties, was working at a drugstore and trying to make ends meet. Unfortunately, […]
Akia Spivey, Goodwill’s Pharmacy Tech Training program
When Akia Spivey graduated from high school in June 2021, she made a decision. She would get a job and break the cycle of poverty and unemployment that had plagued her family. She felt that she had no role models. Akia, a 20-year-old single Black Brooklyn resident who grew up in the Gowanus section, came […]
Aisia Bell Story
Aisia Bell, a 36-yr-old Black/Hispanic woman with multiple disabilities, came to Goodwill NYNJ in fall 2020, in the middle of the pandemic, to get a vocational evaluation to determine her interests and strengths. The single mother of three, who lives in the NJ Hudson County, had limited work experience and concerns about child-care expenses. She […]
Impact story Jesus
Jesus Rodriguez was a taxi driver before the pandemic hit,, but lack of work forced him to applied for public assistance and become a stay-at-home dad. But Tragedy had literally hit home earlier; fire consumed his home and he lost everything. His wife worked to support the family while he sought a stable job. As […]
Olive Zachowski – Legal Services
Olive Zachowski had been on and off public assistance for about 3 years before joining Bridge To Tech. Her background was in theatrical carpentry and other odd jobs working with her hands, but when theatres closed due to the pandemic, she found it difficult to find employment. Olive came to Goodwill NYNJ on February 20, […]
Larry Thompson – Warehouse Specialist
Larry Thompson, an African American single Newark resident in his early sixties, had served our country proudly as an Army Cannon Crewman. The US veteran was referred to Goodwill NYNJ’s Homeless Veterans’ Reintegration Program(HVRP) in August 2021. He was homeless and had been sleeping by a Stop and Shop store. So our team immediately took […]
Sharon Cooper – CVS Greeter
Sharon Cooper is a 33-year-old Richmond Hill, Queens, resident with an intellectual disability and speech impediment. She lives on her own in an Individual Residential Alternative (IRA) in Queens. Sharon enrolled in Project Discovery (Jamaica location) with no work experience to explore possible work opportunities in the retail, food preparation, or janitorial sectors in Feb. […]
Timothy Santiago – Walgreens Customer Service Associate
Timothy Santiago, a 29-year-old Bronx resident with Autism Syndrome Disorder (ASD), joined our Advance program because he wanted to get a job as a Math tutor and work near home. Math was his favorite subject in school, was fascinated with problem solving and works on math problems everyday even today, and had worked as assistant […]