It only takes one unfortunate event to turn your whole world around.
That’s exactly what happened to Alisha Kimbrough. After suffering from a work-related injury, Alisha could no longer return to her manufacturing job of making razor blades. She found herself with no other work experience or office-related work skills and was having difficulty finding a new job.
She had to start completely from scratch. “All I’ve ever done was manufacturing work,” Alisha shared. “I didn’t have training in anything else.”
This single mother had to find a way to raise four growing boys, take care of a parent, move to a safer neighborhood and, on top of it all, find a way to earn an income.
So, she enrolled in the customer service and job readiness programs at Goodwill and started to build a different set of skills, even when she wanted to give up.
Alisha said, “It [can feel] like it never stops. I wanted to give up so many times.” But she didn’t! She stuck through the ups and the downs and is now ready to take her next steps. Alisha is reaching the final stages of her program and hopes to have a job before the program finishes. Her end goal is to do clerical or secretarial work.
“Goodwill has been awesome,” she said. “If it wasn’t for Ms. Penny, [Goodwill's Customer Service Instructor,] I don’t think I would have ever completed this program. Ms. Penny kept telling me to drive forward. With all the things I had to go through-my kids, my dad and my injury-I would have never made it without Ms. Penny.”
Now, all that stands between Alisha and a job is polishing her resume and practicing for interviews. Good luck Alisha! We hope you land an amazing job!