Sunni Thomas
âWhy are you here?â my supervisor asked me. It was 2004 and I had, not long before, started a job as an apprentice at Goodwillâs warehouse in Cordelia.
When you donate and shop at Goodwill Industries of the Greater East Bay, you help change the lives of people here in our community by supporting our job training programs. These programs help people with significant barriers, such as those with a history of generational poverty, individuals recently released from jail, and disabled veterans, gain sustainable employment and a new outlook on living. Click on the images below to learn the stories of just a few successful participants in our job programs.
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Christina Viliamu
Back in 2006, when I was incarcerated at Valley State Prison for Women (VSPW), I had to attend a re-entry class in order to get paroled. One of the assignments in this class was to find...
Jason Miller
My story begins with addiction. I dropped out of school and was in and out of prison. I couldnât keep a job and eventually, I stopped trying to work. Then my fiancÃĐ got pregnant and I...
Shawn Pangelinan
Shawn Pangelinan has a smile you wonât forget, one you may have seen brightening up the side of a Goodwill truck as it passes you on the street. The story of how he became Calidadâs...
Michelle Norton
It was during high school that Michelle fell in with the wrong crowd and started experimenting with alcohol, then drugs. She fell in love- first with a man, then with methamphetamine. Not...
Anita Tobar
Life wasnât always easy. As a kid, I moved between my dad and my grandparentsâ house. My uncle would beat my brother and me, and my granddad died of a heart attack right in front of me....
Bill Erben
In the early 80s, a dependency on marijuana, then methamphetamine, kicked off my tour of the county jail system. What started with minor infractions quickly advanced to assault and...
Belen Zarate
Belen Zarate came to Goodwill for her first job, her first opportu-nity to earn her own money, and to stand on her own.
Raymond Hernandez
Raymond Hernandez came to Goodwill Application Orientation June 2012 after two terms in prison for drug abuse. He was having a difficult time kicking his addiction after being released....