Born in Mexico, Imelda Lopez lived far away from her local high school, and due to transportation barriers, she never attended. She moved to the United States as a teenager, was married at the age of 16, had her first child at 17, and then four more after that. To help support her family, she always worked. She was employed at a factory for 10 years, but the work became too taxing as she grew older. 

After 14 years of missionary work overseas, Tim Hudson returned to his hometown of Indianapolis to take care of his parents and provide them with the daily and nightly care they needed. When they passed in 2019, Tim had trouble finding another occupation that could help with expenses. He regularly applied to job opportunities, but his lack of recent work history and age were constant barriers to achieving employment with a life-sustaining wage.

When Dea'Jenay Reid discovered she was pregnant with her first child, she was 23 and finishing a rigorous nursing school program. While the idea of parenting brought a lot of feelings of excitement, it also brought many uncertainties and feelings of anxiety. When she learned of Goodwill of Central & Southern Indiana’s Nurse-Family Partnership® program during a prenatal visit with her doctor, she was eager to enroll.

For more than 35 years, Goodwill Commercial Services has provided high-quality janitorial services to central Indiana businesses and buildings. Through our AbilityOne program, Goodwill employs over 125 Hoosiers who are blind or have other significant disabilities.

It’s been two years since Pete Yonkman, CEO of Cook Medical, a medical device manufacturing company based in Bloomington, Indiana, approached Goodwill’s leadership about partnering on a unique project. Those conversations came on the heels of the murder of George Floyd and pandemic-related racial disparities and included questions about social justice and the role we play as employers in helping to strengthen our communities. 

Oumou Samake was born in Africa but lived in Paris, where she received a degree in social work prior to immigrating to the United States with her husband in 2016. Shortly after arriving, she learned she was pregnant. 

When Johnny Manson joined Goodwill in October 2016 as a part-time donation attendant, he had been struggling to secure employment due to past legal issues and a lifelong history of depression. 

When Stephanie Carney was sentenced to 18 months in prison, she knew that she needed to make a change in her life.

After separating from her husband of 10 years, Samantha Russell turned to drugs in an effort to cope with the stress and anxiety she was experiencing. 

Bea Sweet joined the Goodwill retail crew at our Columbus location in November 2021. Although she has the support of a few friends and her co-workers at Goodwill, Bea has experienced the judgment and stigma associated with coming out as a transgender person. She began living as a woman almost seven years ago, when she was 41 years old.