THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, November 11, 1996 TAG: 9611110064
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY NANCY LEWIS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: 83 lines
Given a chance, some training and a bit of counseling, hundreds of people join the work force annually thanks to Goodwill Industries' work training classes.
But they also gain something less tangible, yet just as important, as a paycheck: self-esteem and a feeling of accomplishment.
Goodwill Industries of Hampton Roads' Norfolk branch is about to expand its work training program into a separate building. Presently, classrooms are scattered throughout the Tidewater Drive thrift store and clothing-processing facility. The new Career Resource Center opens in December.
``Art is a healing process,'' said Deborah Hendrix, human service counselor for Goodwill as workers nearby constructed memo holders, the bases of which are fashioned to look like a trio of famous volumes.
Hendrix balanced one of them in the palm of her hand and admired the sheen - rich as that of leather-bound library editions.
``This is the foundation,'' says Hendrix. ``When they finish it, they feel very good about themselves. They get a job. They start growing. We work on the person, then their skills. We see little miracles.''
Other focuses of the 60-day program include behavior modification, stress and anger management and practice at accepting direction and criticism.
Some students, though, don't need the emotional basics.
Barbara Foreman, for example, needs computer training to land an accounting job. Until a stroke disabled her, Foreman, 39, worked as a nurse. One recent weekday morning, Foreman honed her spread-sheet skills under the watchful eye of instructor Robin Neff.
In the new center, there will be more computer hardware and more classrooms to help people - especially those who are at a disadvantage because of welfare dependency, illiteracy, criminal behavior or past substance abuse. Other clients include those with mental retardation or other physicalor emotional disabilities, or behavioral disorders.
The center may prove to be a model for six other Hampton Roads Goodwill sites.
The 3-year-old training project at the Norfolk site last year involved 327 participants - 68 of them were later placed in private-sector jobs.
Some of the students become paid temporary employees of Goodwill itself, helping to sort the mounds of clothing and other used items donated yearly. Others go on to jobs in the private and public sectors.
But it's clothing the poor on which Goodwill has built its reputation.
Behind the scenes at the Norfolk thrift store - where folks are lined up waiting to pay for wearables they've found at bargain prices - stand mountains of donated clothing. Dozens of workers unpack, sort and prepare clothing and household items for sale.
This day, a lone patent leather shoe lies on the floor of the warehouse close to where a large truck is being unloaded. Its mate is nowhere in sight.
Nearby, 1,000-pound bales of densely packed clothing - colorful as ribbon candy - are stacked to the ceiling. They're destined for Third-World countries where folks are ``more concerned with being clothed than being fashionable,'' said Katherine Overcamp, a Goodwill spokeswoman.
Goodwill Industries began in 1902 in Boston, the brainchild of a Methodist minister. The idea was to collect and refurbish items for resale, with the income paying workers' wages.
In Hampton Roads, the project got off the ground in 1925 under the leadership of the Rev. A. J. Hollingsworth, a Methodist minister.
Goodwill Industries of Hampton Roads is a United Way agency.
In 1995, Goodwill received more than $40,000 in funding from United Way. This year, for the first time, Goodwill joins hands with The Joy Fund to help provide more toys for kids at Christmas.
For $20, churches, social service agencies and companies may purchase Joy Fund coupons to be redeemed for $25 worth of goods at Goodwill.
``The community gives to Goodwill, and Goodwill gives back to the community,'' Overcamp said. ILLUSTRATION: RICHARD L. DUNSTON
The Virginian-Pilot
Barbara Foreman, a nurse until she had a disabling stroke, hones her
computer skills in the work training program at Goodwill in Norfolk.
In December, classes will be consolidated in the new Career Resource
Center.
UNITED WAY OF SOUTH HAMPTON ROADS
VP
SOURCE: United Way
KEYWORDS: UNITED WAY by CNB