When Linda’s husband died in 2009, she lost more than her spouse of 40 years. She lost her entire way of life. During those four decades, the homemaker, wife and mother had never held any other job.

“He left me virtually penniless,” Linda recalled. “I had to move in with my daughter and son-in-law. As I got a little past my grief, a friend of mine told me I needed to come to Goodwill.”

In 2010, Linda visited the Goodwill Career Solutions center in Union City. She was filled with worry and self-doubt, because the only office skills she possessed dated to the 1960s and she had never even turned on a computer.

She was directed into Goodwill’s Transitional Employment  Services Program, and she soon found that her counselor and others on the staff

were patient and encouraging. She acquired many useful job skills — including a working knowledge of computers.

“I couldn’t see there ever being life after (my husband), and Goodwill just turned that all around for me,” Linda recalled.

In 2012, she was offered a job as the administrative clerk in the Union City Goodwill Career Solutions. Now, she works energetically to further Goodwill’s mission as a true-believer and example to others.

“The knowledge and confidence I have gained and the friendships I’ve made because of Goodwill have made it possible for me to be on my own and self-sufficient,” she said. “I wish the same thing for all the people who walk through our doors.”

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