Category: Success Stories

In the summer of 2021, Emma Robbins got into a car accident. Doctors were unsure if Emma would survive. She drove her car off the road, and suffered from a traumatic brain injury on impact that she is still recovering from today. Since she was a teenager, Emma battled with drug and alcohol abuse and received treatment a few times. She…

“Now that’s a cool job!” Carina Ream thought as she was reading an article about a speech therapist who helps actors on their accents for movies. She was student at the University of New Hampshire and was considering how to combine her love of English and science into a career. Ultimately, this led her to graduate school to become a speech…

Jacob Allen can hit ski jumps, rock climb outdoors and rake in thousands of dollars in donations for important causes — but when it comes to things at home, he uses Margarita as his eyes. Jacob is blind due to a condition called bilateral anophthalmia, which means he was born without eyeballs. Because of his disability, Jacob receives in-home support…

“I found a career that makes me happy.”

Angie always dreamed of working in healthcare, but wasn’t sure what she could do as someone with Cerebral Palsy. Now, she’s the most independent she’s ever been thanks to her job as a food service worker. At Gray Birch Long Term Care in Augusta, Angie gets to help people everyday. She helps prepare food, set up for resident meals, stock…

“It was through my job at Goodwill I gained confidence, self-esteem and found my voice.”

Meegan was a firefighter and EMT for 26 years before her cancer diagnosis. In 2016 she got sick, and a year later she discovered a tumor had metastasized from her lung to her brain. Metastasis is when a cancer cell breaks away from where it originally formed, travels through the body, and begins growing in a new place. Meegan had…

Peter Martineau was the first Deaf employee hired to work with Deaf clients at Goodwill. He was young and it was his first gig, 35 years ago. As a young adult, he was still figuring out the basics like how to grocery shop and cook dinner on a budget. Funnily enough, those were the same skills he was teaching as…

With his big, infectious smile, Nate Hall stepped away from a box of donations in the backroom to take a break. He has been working at Goodwill for seven months now as a Donation Specialist where he accepts and sorts donations at the Maine Mall (South Portland) store. Nate works at Goodwill, in part to honor the memory of his…

Evan is one of Goodwill’s most beloved donation attendants. Since starting the job two years ago, local donors look forward to chatting him up when they drop off gently used items. Evan was diagnosed with autism when he was six. Now in his twenties, he brightens our Augusta store every time he comes in. He works a few days a…

As a kid, Scott Duguay’s dad would park a blue van in front of their house with “Goodwill” hand painted on the side. It was the 1970s and Gerry Duguay was the only driver for the Lewiston, Maine area. At that time, Goodwill had a regular street van used to help collect donations for the stores. Scott grew up. And…

In March of 2016, Alexis was in a car accident that left her with a life-altering brain injury. While her friends were walking at their college graduation, Alexis was in a coma. She spent 77 days in the hospital, unable to walk. “The first thing I remember when I woke up was that I wanted to help people.” Alexis’ traumatic…

In 2019, Kara was in high school, taking Driver’s Ed and saving for a car. Normal things for a teenager. But what wasn’t normal was that Kara and her family were evicted from their home with nowhere to go. This is how Kara found herself at Preble Street teen shelter. It was there she connected with Goodwill’s Youth Workforce programs….

Sierra Taylor went from living in low-income housing and working odd jobs, to owning her own home and having a stable career that helps people — all in just a few years, with some help from Goodwill’s Workforce Team and Job Connection model. Back in 2017, Sierra and her husband and their two children moved into Bangor Housing, which provides affordable…