Established in 2017, National Hire a Veteran Day (celebrated on July 25) was founded by Hire Our Heroes, a nonprofit organization that connects veterans with employers. Goodwill of Central & Southern Indiana recognizes the value that veterans bring to the table in terms of leadership, discipline, endurance, grit and so much more. We employ more than 100 veterans in a variety of roles, including retail associates, teachers, support professionals and more.

As Daesha Cottrell nears the end of her senior year at Indianapolis Metropolitan High School, she is raising the bar for students who follow in her footsteps, exemplifying leadership, while preparing for college and beyond.

Angel Beyersdorfer struggled with drug addiction for a decade before she finally hit rock bottom. She lost her home, car and driver’s license and couldn’t hold down a job.

As a small city in rural, southern Indiana (population <7,000), Scottsburg has the same challenges larger cities have but fewer resources available to address them. Of the 12% of Scottsburg residents who didn’t graduate from high school, an astonishing 44% over the age of 25 live below poverty level. Other common barriers include criminal history, addiction and homelessness.

Greg Perry beamed with pride as he stood at the podium at his graduation from Goodwill’s New Beginnings program, recounting the experiences that led him to prison as well as those that changed his life. New Beginnings is a six-month, re-entry program that helps those who were recently incarcerated adjust to society after their release.

India Daye was a senior in high school when she first learned she was pregnant. She lacked stable housing and worked part-time at a fast-food restaurant through her pregnancy to help support her family.

It is possible to get out of debt and gain control of diabetes, meet Bryan Gilbert

Referred to Goodwill’s New Beginnings program by his parole officer in 2017, Christopher Holifield was determined to make a change, for himself as well as his children.

In 1929, Helen Krebs Barth boarded a trolley in New Albany, Indiana. She was headed to Louisville, Kentucky to see a speech by Rev. Edgar J. Helms, the Methodist minister who had founded Goodwill in Boston nearly 30 years earlier. Rev. Helms was spreading the message of Goodwill and encouraging people to develop operations in their own struggling communities.

DeShawn Minor reflects on his early youth as a difficult time. He didn’t fully understand how his actions impacted those around him, especially his mom and younger siblings. He describes how he had anger issues and “goofed off” a lot at school, resulting in several suspensions and finally, expulsion. He was placed into a group home as a teen and an alternative school in another city.