Goodwill Program: Freedom Drive Job Connection

"Working with Goodwill, there are no barriers. The skies are the limit."

Victoria Mason was a few months into retirement when reality set in. She was “just bored” at home and wanted to re-enter the workforce. “It was too expensive to live and I wanted to be active,” says Victoria, 65.

An AARP advertisement led her to the Centralina Agency on Aging, which ultimately referred her to Goodwill. At Goodwill’s Freedom Drive Job Connection, Victoria received work experience to prepare her for the workforce. "This is where my blossoming began," she says.

Victoria, who had 25 years of experience in hospital billing, brushed up on her computer and data entry skills at Goodwill. She also received career counseling, learned interview skills, dressing for success and improved her resume. That experience gave her confidence and prepared her for a Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools’ job fair, where she had two interviews "on the spot.”

“Goodwill gave me the resources to find a job. I was very prepared,” Victoria says.  “Working with Goodwill, there are no barriers.  The skies are the limit.”

When the next school year started, so did Victoria. She was hired by CMS as a teacher’s assistant with the After School Enrichment Program.

“I love it. I like to be with the kids.  They keep me young,” Victoria says of her position at Tuckaseegee Elementary School.