Success Stories
Rebekah Blane
Rebekah Blane has benefited from Goodwill’s flexibility and commitment. After being only the second person in her family to graduate from high school, Rebekah had a promising future ahead of her. But when her mother was diagnosed with a mental illness, Rebekah stayed at home to care for her. Even with her caregiving responsibilities, she managed to enroll at Indiana Business College and earn an associate’s degree. But when her mother passed away, everything changed.
With no support system, Rebekah struggled with the loss of her mother and became an alcoholic. She began writing bad checks, and eventually, she was arrested. Convicted of forgery, Rebekah served time and was eventually referred to Goodwill from work release.
Rebekah has made great strides since beginning her work release program. She embraces the need to do the best job she possibly can, to go that extra mile. In fact, she is the only employee in Goodwill Commercial Services who is trained on every piece of equipment and in every role on the assembly floor. When there is a need to be filled, her supervisors can count on her to do it.
Rebekah’s future became even brighter when she began the New Beginnings Program, a six-month program that requires individuals to maintain employment, attend training sessions and make progress on their goals. They work on creating support systems and building critical life skills and also build and improve computer literacy and write effective résumés.
She also has begun to pursue some of her personal dreams, like working with children at the transitional housing facility where she lives. She understands that she will have a tough road ahead to rebuild people’s trust in her. Rebekah explains, “The nature of my crimes will make it harder to get back, but I have the tenacity to go for what I want.”
Rebekah refuses to let go of her dreams. “Even though it looks rough, and it looks like you can’t make it, that you can’t move – you have to get up and keep going. Each day gets a little bit better. It gets a little bit easier – you just have to keep pushing through.”
See her videoGrace Babb
Grace Babb is always thinking – colors, patterns, designs. Away from her job as a sales associate at Goodwill’s Carmel-West Store, Grace creates a wide variety of artwork from repurposed materials.
“It makes me feel good that I can take something that maybe somebody doesn’t want or it could be something that’s really ugly, and I can transform it into something really neat,” she says.
Grace’s final products are beautiful: quilted wall hangings made from fabric scraps or fabric dye-transferred with old pieces of silk; felted purses made from repurposed material; crocheted water bottle covers; salvaged canvases that Grace has painted; bracelets created from used beads; and much more.
The source of most of Grace’s raw materials? Shopping at Goodwill stores & outlets and clickgoodwill.com. “I get a lot of inspiration from shopping at Goodwill,” she says.
By shopping at Goodwill, Grace says she spends about $100 a year on supplies for her artwork, finding deals online and at sales. She says she’s hopeful to spend more now that she is employed. Grace had to stop working in her career field as a certified surgical technologist because she has seizures, depression, and fibromyalgia. Although she worked part-time in various jobs, she didn’t have steady employment.
In February, she worked with a job coach at a local organization to find her job at the Carmel-West Store. The store worked with her to accommodate her disability, and she now works every other day in the store’s back room in textiles. “That works out really well for me,” she says.
Formal art school training hasn’t been a part of Grace’s background. She dropped out of high school art class due to lack of feedback from instructors and took only one basic college-level correspondence art class because finances were tight. She says she’s been drawing since she was a child and that her artwork was born out of necessity and a love for what she does.
“Not having money, you have to find a way to make due,” Grace says. “You know – you want something; you make it. I find it fun. I said, ‘I’m glad we’re poor because you can be more creative.’ ”
Grace, who just graduated from a Goodwill class where individuals learn to find community resources and set personal and financial goals, now has lots of hopes and dreams for the future of her artwork – a new sewing machine, a new printer, taking classes, selling some of her pieces, and passing her knowledge onto others, especially children. But the best part of her artwork? Grace says how it makes her feel and lifts her depression.
“My artwork makes me feel really good,” Grace says. “If I’m feeling down and I start doing something with my hands and I get interested in the process, your mood just changes.”
Video:
See Grace & her artworkGrace’s Goodwill shopping tips
- Sales: Take advantage of Goodwill’s sale days, including 50% sales, 99-cent Sundays and Senior Discount Days at the regular stores and Blowout Sales at the Goodwill Outlet Stores. (See www.goodwillindy.org for details.)
- Shop at clickgoodwill.com: Grace has found great deals on glass beads and semi-precious stones for jewelry-making and European yarn for needlepoint. She advises that the most expensive items aren’t always what you’re seeking. “You just have to look at the site all the time and look for the new things that come on,” she advises.
- Needlepoint: Search stores for plastics and yarn for your work.
- Painting: Look for canvases that can be reused.
- Fabrics:
- Shop the outlets for scraps of fabric or yarn (www.goodwilloutlet.org)
- In any store, look at the different fabrics & unique buttons that clothing and other fabrics have to offer.
- Silk (including shirts, robes and ties) are affordable at Goodwill. Grace uses this material for dye-transfer projects.
- Hardware, accessories & more: Look at Goodwill for anything you can re-purpose or reuse, including keys, hardware, buttons, acrylic paints, picture frames, books, art, photos, reference magazines, vintage lace, felt, etc.
Earl Hunt
If you had asked Earl Edward Hunt 20 years ago where he’d be today, he couldn’t have imagined the vast changes he would make in his life.
“I thought drugs was my life,” he says. “But it always turned out wrong. Police work three shifts. You sleep one. You can’t get away. But those are the things that you ignore.”
During his third incarceration for selling drugs, Earl decided to change. He participated in a prison program to help him get off drugs and take other steps to change his life. When he was released in March 2009, he began searching for a job. Eventually, he was referred to Goodwill through Indiana Vocational Rehabilitation. He remembers arriving at the interview with his criminal record and his packet of achievement certificates from the programs he completed in prison – just hoping the case manager would believe in him.
“Society don’t take a chance on ex-felons because they did wrong. They don’t understand that once the person does wrong and they paid for that, let them move on. But a lot of times, they don’t let you.”
Earl was hired in January 2010 for his first job in 20-plus years – as a GW Commercial Services janitor for a service contract. He worked 9 months in that position, and soon he was promoted to team leader.
“I was very glad to get a job. Because a lot of people come from prison – especially if they hear lot of no’s – and you go back and do what you used to do. But I wasn’t willing to go back and do that. This is a blessing just to come to work every day.”
Earl said his biggest challenge on the job has been developing his communication skills.
“People on the streets, you deal with them in a different type of way. It was a challenge at first. I just talk straight, and I expect people to talk straight, too. … I realize now that they’re not street people. Treat people like you want to be treated, and you’ll be better off. I work on it.”
Earl’s supervisor Michael Bell said that Earl is a hard worker who has built relationships quickly and gained respect from his colleagues, earning him an endearing nickname.
“Everyone looks to Earl like a father figure. We call him our ‘Goodwill Dad,’ ” Michael says. “It’s hard for me to believe that he’s the same person that I’ve heard stories about the things he used to do, compared to the person that I know now.”
The nickname of “Goodwill Dad” makes Earl laugh heartily. “I care about the people that work for me. I always look out for them.”
Earl just purchased a two-bedroom, full-basement home – the first one he’s ever owned by himself. He says he’s proud of his accomplishments and learned from his past.
“First thing I gotta do is put God upfront, and the next thing is come to work everyday.”
Meet Earl