In many South American countries, as people get older, they often lose their jobs to much younger workers. Having moved to the United States later in life, Graciela was heartened to see people her own age working and being productive. She knew she still had a lot to give but the language barrier made finding a job that much more difficult. A friend suggested applying to Goodwill as they had many programs to help people in the community. That very day Graciela applied. It was then that she learned of the Jobs Plus Language Program offered by Goodwill. It was a chance to work and get paid to learn English. Graciela knew opportunities like this did not come around very often. She could hardly believe it when she was offered a position as a Sorter Hanger in the Apparel department.
It was hard to know how well the program would work for Graciela. Would she really be able to learn English? Would she put what she learned to good use? Or would the knowledge gained be blocked behind a wall of shyness and fear of pronouncing some word incorrectly? Many times, it’s that fear of being told that what you’ve learned is not good enough, to look like a fool when you are trying so hard to say everything right, that can lock down a person’s mind and make it almost impossible to say more than ‘hello’. And yet, Graciela’s eyes were bright, her smile radiant as she began working.
Her training began but after about 6 months, the 40-hour work weeks and the demands of such a physical job caught up to her. Graciela didn’t know what to do. Even though she loved working at the store, she knew she wasn’t keeping up with the daily quota and the 8-hour shifts left her exhausted at the end of the day. She needed to keep working. She worriedly discussed this with her TLC and Good Partner Coach, Natalie, and the decision was made to transfer to a Custodian position instead working part time hours. The shift did the trick. Before long, Graciela was tidying up the store and helping to put wares out on the floor. With her new shorter schedule, she felt her joy in her work returning. However, her new position had her coming into contact with customers much more often.
Graciela realized that as a Custodian she would be on the salesfloor more often and this meant her English studies were now more important than ever. She increased her study time putting more hours into her Daily Practices and Conversation Classes than almost anyone else in the entire program. And finally, her hard work paid off. “Today a customer asked me if we had any more of a set of china and I was able to answer her!”, she said excitedly. Though the interaction was short, it was a true turning point for her.
It has been months since that day, and Graciela still loves coming to work. Getting to practice her English everyday with customers has been an unexpected blessing of her custodian position pushing her even further in her studies just as her kind and patient nature make her someone the customers love to interact with. Graciela proves everyday just how much she does still have to give, and she is so happy that Goodwill was willing to give her a chance to prove it.
#Goodwill #Inspiration #CommunitySupport #JobsPlusLanguageProgram #GracielasJourney #Empowerment #SecondChances
