The REAL Goodwill

The Real Goodwill

August 11, 2016

introduced by Lion Scott Hendrix

HOW DOES GOODWILL TURN 84 MILLION POUNDS WORTH OF DONATIONS INTO EMPLOYMENT FOR CENTRAL TEXANS?

Goodwill Central Texas’ mission is to generate lifelong connections to work. You are probably familiar with them because when you clean out your closets, you might drop off a bag of your old stuff but you probably don’t understand how that translates into helping 100,000 people in the next decade. You’ll be amazed to hear how much “stuff” is donated to Goodwill each year and what wonderful stewards they are towards our planet. Last year alone, they diverted 29 million pounds of it from entering into our Central Texas landfill. You also probably don’t know that Goodwill went to bat for those who are undereducated and after lobbying the legislature was able to open the doors to the Goodwill Excel Center which is the ONLY school in Texas where someone 26 and older can get a high school diploma.

Lisa Apfelberg

Lisa Apfelberg is the Director of Development at Goodwill Central Texas where she serves as the Real Goodwill tour guide taking 500 guests per year behind-the-scenes to show them how Goodwill is working to help connect 100,000 people to meaningful employment in the next decade thereby transforming their lives through the power of work. Lisa has a master’s degree in Social Work and is very passionate about spreading Goodwill’s message because too many people say about Goodwill, “I had NO idea” and she works to change that through frequent tours and presentations.

Isa Arizola

Isa is a former client of Goodwill Central Texas and now proudly works in their unique adult high school, the Goodwill Excel Center. Isa is a college student who plans to get her master’s degree in Social Work because she feels that so many people have helped her to become the amazing member of our community that she is today and she’d like to give back to our community. She is already doing so by being an advocate for opportunity youth who are facing similar challenges that she faced as a teen and she has been to both the local and national capital to speak about criminal justice reform. She enjoys telling her story because she believes by sharing it, it will help people understand how others with criminal backgrounds need opportunities so that they can become contributing members of society.