Kayla’s Success Story
With a bright yellow flower in her hair, and an even brighter smile on her face, you would never know just how much darkness Kayla has overcome.
“When I first came here, I was shaking. I was so insecure because of my background, but everyone supported me, and accepted me just for who I was.”
After 20 years of addiction Kayla was sober, but haunted by the mistakes she had made in the past. Feeling like she had no options besides jail, Kayla made a choice that would change her life forever. “The last thing I remember was my mother hitting me as hard as she could to make me come to.”
The next few months were full of unimaginable obstacles – brain surgery, jail time, and homelessness. “I called my probation officer and told them I wanted to go back to jail. I was sober, tired, hungry, and everyone around me was on drugs.” Kayla’s PO saw her strength and connected her with Tabitha Ministry instead, and she graduated from their program a year later.
Now, after being with Triad Goodwill for three years, Kayla greets donors with a smile and sees her fellow team members as family. “I was quiet at first, and engaged with customers more than my fellow employees because I was insecure and didn’t know how I would react stepping out in the ‘real world’ of being a recovering addict. Dealing with peers who are not recovering addicts was a new chapter in my life, and I had to learn how to do that.”
When asked where she’s sees herself in the next few years, Kayla beams and shares, “I like where I am. I love seeing people donate. Every time someone donates, they tell me something about their items or themselves, and I can tell them about all the good things we’re doing here.”
When she isn’t at work at Triad Goodwill, Kayla is serving her community by volunteering with the unhoused population in Downtown Greensboro. “When I’m volunteering, I tell people about the programs at Goodwill, but I understand that each day is different for them. One day people want a job, the next they don’t. Whatever focus you have is what you need to run with. I just try to push people forward with love and grace, after grace, after grace- and just keep doing it.”
“That’s what Goodwill is about. We’re here to support one another – reaching out our hands for one another to help and pull each other up when we’re down.”
