This Goodwill team member is ‘the bomb’!
If there is one thing more experienced workers have in common, it is the vast experiences that have helped shape their lives. For Teretha Dacres it’s the time she spent in a highly mathematical and technical job in Tampa, manufacturing military practice bomb shells and bullets.
But first, more about Teretha: the Boynton Beach, Fla. native moved to Sarasota in 1972. She got married in 1974 and had two kids, and worked as a CNA for 11 years before transitioning to Tampa, Fla. for two years. She got married for the second time while in Tampa.
In the late 1980s, at the age of 36, after suffering an injury on the job as a CNA, Teretha went through rehab and then trained – with the cost of schooling covered by the Tampa Private Industry Council (PIC) – at the Tampa Bay Vocational Technical School. She was the very first woman to graduate from the Tampa Bay Vo-Tech with machinists training. She spent five years manufacturing military practice bomb shells and bullets for Balimoy Manufacturing, operating the only Hydromat lathe in the state. Her inspirational story was featured in the 1992 Tampa PIC Annual Report.
She returned to nursing in the 1990s. In 2012, exhausted after working in nursing for four decades and sad about losing some of the elderly patients she had been very fond of, Teretha moved to Duluth, Ga. with her daughter. Her sister accompanied her during the job search, recommending Goodwill as a possible employer. Teretha was hired by the Goodwill organization in Pleasant Hill, Ga. (Gwinnett County) – she was told that there were opportunities for advancement; she already knew that she enjoyed shopping there and decided to give it a shot. She spent three years with Goodwill, working in accessories.
In 2019, Teretha returned to Sarasota due to her mother’s illness. She applied for a job with Goodwill Manasota and, while her hiring was delayed by a few months due to COVID-19, she was brought on board at the Corporate Campus store in June of 2020. She was soon transferred to the Honore store to work as a pricer as well as in accessories as needed.
Not long after being hired, Teretha made the commitment to become a Role Model Worker, receiving training in computer literacy, time management and life management skills. Now she has the privilege of helping other employees adapt to their work environment.
She has been especially grateful for the job benefits, such as dental and vision care, as well as the kindness of her co-workers.
“They’re really nice to me. They respect their elders and support me if I need help,” she said.
Teretha’s GoodPartner Coach, Pam Bavo, marvels at how far Teretha has come in her years with Goodwill.
“She has learned to access and use the computer. She had very little digital literacy previously … She went through some training with life skills classes, time management, adapting to change,” Pam said. “She became a Role Model Worker just six months after being hired.”
Teretha enjoys interacting with the public, especially when shoppers ask for her opinion. “Our shoppers are very nice and polite. I like the atmosphere, seeing people find their treasures,” she said. She also finds it very interesting to identify the value of and pricing donated goods.
Pam was very pleased to highlight Teretha’s contributions as well as the value added by older workers at Goodwill.
Teretha – who plans to continue working for at least the next year or two – encourages older workers to consider Goodwill as a positive place to work, especially if they need to supplement their income.
“They should be open to training and they can always transfer to a different department if their first job isn’t a good fit,” she advised. “I’m happy to keep doing this until I retire.”
