From a Life of Addiction

Sheila’s* life of easy money and fast friends was over by the time she enrolled in Goodwill’s CalWORKS (California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids) program in West Oakland. The drug life had left her alone, on welfare, on probation, and legally separated from two of her sons, aged 10 and 7 years old.

She had lost everything she owned. Home was a small apartment in Alameda that she shared with eight other people. Sheila was ready for a change in her life.

Sheila began attending our life skills and job search workshops, as well as working as a receptionist at our West Oakland Job Placement Center. The daily encouragement and support she received from the staff brought about huge changes in Sheila’s attitude. After eight months of hard work and persistence, Sheila secured a position as a cashier, working full time at a livable wage with
benefits at a new Oakland-based company. With stability back in her life, Sheila was also able to rent a small two-bedroom apartment. But Sheila’s story doesn’t end there.

Encouraged by Goodwill and her newfound confidence, Sheila continued to seek custody of her two sons. After demonstrating to the court that she had turned her life around and was now able to provide a stable life for her children, she was awarded custody of them.

Sheila remembers her involvement with Goodwill fondly:

“Without your encouragement and compassion for my situation, I don’t think it would have ended this way. I was trying to unlock
the door for my children to be returned to me, but I didn’t think that I could. You all kept pushing me to go and fight. To ask
people for help, and I did. And this is the end result – my boys and I are going to be ok. I realize that everyday that I live I have to fight, but that’s all right because I know that I can win.”

* Name changed to protect the privacy of the Goodwill participant.