Success Stories

“You give yourself a chance to actually make a career.”

– Matt

“I just bring my skills that I learned in the store, work with the people, and I bring it to the class.”

– Cuong

The first full week of October marked National Customer Service Week, and this is the perfect time to share the story of an Evergreen Goodwill of Northwest Washington employee who is undoubtedly one of the best in the business.

“My main goal is to inspire people who are like me, who wants to be a pilot but who don’t believe in themselves.”

– Abdullahi

“Because I work in a multicultural workplace, I was able to return and be even more aware and sensitive to those employees who use English as their second language.”

– Michael

Giving back to the community has become second nature for Michael, a supervisor in Evergreen Goodwill of Northwest Washington’s Transportation Department, at this point in his life. “I want to make a better world than the one I grew up in,” he says. “I want to see things change.”

“This isn’t my first job in the United States, but this is the first job that I really like,”

– Aida

Aida has watched as Evergreen Goodwill of Northwest Washington has drastically changed over the course of more than three decades.

“This is a learning community that’s passionate about growing and changing, which I think is really important.”

– Shar

It all started with an ad on Facebook that transformed Shar’s career, landing her a position at Evergreen Goodwill of Northwest Washington’s Job Training and Education Center in Whatcom County – bringing her Goodwill journey full circle.

“With Goodwill, I was able to access the internet, which has helped me to achieve my goals.”

– Malgorzata

When Malgorzata came to America from Europe, she visited her local Evergreen Goodwill Job Training and Education Center. Our Case Managers connected her to the classes and trainings that fit her needs, which helped her secure a job that she loves in the health care industry.

“There’s people that believe in you in here, and so it pushes us even more to try even harder, and it’s bringing us to a place where it’s really unthinkable for me”

– Sonia

Sitting side-by-side, a rush of emotions came over Tasha and Sonia as they shared a hug before continuing to tell the story of how their friendship formed at such a critical point in their lives.

“Our biggest thing is we listen, we don’t judge, we just listen.”

– Tania

Looking back on her childhood, Tania reminisced about days spent each year at Evergreen Goodwill’s flagship Dearborn store and the intricate role it played in her life.