Union City, Tenn. — This week is one of the busiest of the year for Goodwill, when the nonprofit’s Donation Express Centers will take in more than triple the usual number of donations. One of the many Goodwill attendants who will be on duty next week is George Sawyers, whose personal story of overcoming unemployment, grief and betrayal demonstrates how Goodwill uses those donations to change lives.
Sometimes, when a person’s life becomes intertwined with an idea, people say they embody it. Few people embody the spirit of Goodwill — a nonprofit organization devoted to the restorative power of work — better than George.
Nine years ago, George was laid off from a job he loved, working as a maintenance man at a Nashville sports facility.
The blow came at a delicate time. He and his wife had recently purchased a home, allowing them to finally move out of the rough neighborhood where they raised two children of their own and four others belonging to a drug-addicted relative.
George, 53, who had worked every day of his adult life, was unemployed for a month and a half. His sudden inability to find another job — and mounting financial concerns — wore on him, and his wife warned he was sinking into depression.
“I ain’t no quitter, and I ain’t no failure,” George recalls, “but I was getting depressed. So I got on these old rusty knees and prayed for help. Then a guy at the Inner City Church of Christ said, ‘George, keep your head up. I know where you can get a job.’”
The man sent George to Goodwill. He was hired and put to work helping open what was then a new Goodwill store in East Nashville. George eventually became a donation attendant. Eight years later, he is an institution at Goodwill’s Donation Express Center on Gallatin Pike.
“The best part of the job is meeting the donors,” he said. “I’ve gotten to know so many wonderful people, and some who come by just to visit. They say, ‘I’m not coming unless I see George.’”
It wasn’t until he landed his job with Goodwill that George was enrolled in benefits — including a dental insurance plan — and was able to finally get his teeth fixed.
“Goodwill helped me smile again,” George says — and he grins to prove it.
About Goodwill Industries of Middle Tennessee, Inc.
For 60 years, Goodwill Industries of Middle Tennessee has provided job training and job placement free of charge to people with disabilities or other barriers to employment through the sale of donated items. Goodwill’s vision is that all people will have the opportunity to reach their fullest potential through the power of work. More information about Goodwill’s Career Solutions, retail stores and donation centers can be obtained online at www.giveit2goodwill.org or by calling 1-800-545-9231.
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