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
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
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
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.
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,
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,