With grilling weather officially here — I wanted to put together a mini herb garden so I can freshen up my summer dishes a bit and add a little indoor foliage to my dining area.

“I’m advocating for second chances. We need lawyers to help people re-enter society. Companies are overlooking qualified people just because they have a criminal record,” Tarra said.

Tarra spent 20 months at the Mission Creek Correction Center for Women for drug offenses. While at Mission Creek, she attended workshops led by Seattle Goodwill. The women learned resume writing and other job preparation skills.

Catch up on Goodwill Faces with the four stories below. Tune into our Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to follow our weekly #GoodwillFaces series!

Living in her home country of Mexico in Mexico City, Rocio’s life was drastically altered following a series of setbacks. Goodwill has supported Rocio in various ways as a student, offering support services to provide a gas card, obtaining prescription glasses and even aiding in finding affordable housing.

Catch up on Goodwill Faces with the four stories below. Tune into our Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to follow our weekly #GoodwillFaces series!

Without volunteer support Seattle Goodwill wouldn’t have the resources to serve the 9,767 Job Training and Education students it did last year. A total of 780 volunteers committed 13,230 hours toward serving Goodwill’s mission of creating better economic opportunity for individuals facing significant barriers to employment.

To help us celebrate Earth Day and promote sustainable practices, we’ve partnered with Seattle radio station KEXP and have enlisted the help of local bands Cataldo, Star Anna, Goodbye Heart, Acapulco Lips and Prom Queen for a fun-filled night at our Sustainable Sounds concert.

At Seattle Goodwill, we deeply value sustainability. We partner with local organization and programs like Threadcycle and eCycle Washington to ensure donations we can’t sell are properly recycled. We use SmartBins and have a LEED Gold Certified Administrative Services building. Last year, thanks to generous donors and shoppers, we kept over 53 million pounds out of landfills.

Da'Shawna had been dealing with some tough times and her grades in school were struggling. Heading into her senior year, there was no guarantee that she’d be able to graduate unless she figured out a way to get her studies back on track during a pivotal time in her life.

Give people an opportunity to move forward and you’ll often see their success take off.

That’s true for Brycen Smith, the featured student in this issue of the Goodwill Ambassador. He’s learning aviation manufacturing in our Youth Aerospace Program (YAP) and is earning college credit through Everett Community College. His life is taking off. Looking back on his difficult childhood, Brycen saw YAP as an opportunity to change the direction of his life and build a successful future.