Tim Kahn manages Goodwill’s Construction Training program — a six-week course providing clients with a solid foundation in the trade, including hands-on experience with blueprints and a wide variety of tools. Tim’s program is among Goodwill’s most successful, graduating 94 clients last year, 85 percent of whom landed jobs.

Tim was born in Burbank, Calif., and adopted as an infant, never knowing his birth parents. By age 13 he had fallen in with a bad crowd. After getting caught stealing a car, he was sent to a home for delinquent boys in Calhoun, Tenn., where he turned his life around. At 19 he attended Tennessee Temple University, where he planned to study theology. Instead, he discovered a passion for construction and real estate and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in business administration. He made an $18,000 profit on the first home he bought, repaired and sold in Nashville. It launched a career that made him wealthy — as a builder completing 60 homes per year — before he lost everything in the real estate market crash of 2008 and had to rebuild his life.

What brought you to Goodwill? After 2008, I continued working as a self-employed contractor, but the industry dried up. I knew my experience would open a door somewhere, and I started teaching construction at Springfield High School. When I found the opportunity at Goodwill, I jumped. Goodwill has been the best thing that has happened to me in a long time.

What are the duties of your position? I teach about 10 students per class. As a master trainer for the National Council  for Construction Education and Research, I am responsible for its requirements in certifying my students. My days are busy and long, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. Our program builds many of the things Goodwill needs, like bookshelves, staircases and tables.