Goodwill Impact Awards Honor Tales of Transformation

“I applied for a job, and Goodwill gave me a life,” said Byron Sheffield, one of three honorees at the Goodwill Impact Awards. Byron’s story of growing from addiction on the streets to employment and leadership was one of three touching “Tales of Transformation” at the annual celebration of Goodwill Industries of Middle Tennessee.

A relatively new fixture on the autumn calendar, the 4-year-old Impact Awards have helped share the story of the nonprofit, which has quietly served the region for a century. Success stories include Impact Award recipient Tanisha Johnson, who found her way from a life surrounded by violence to a career-coaching program and a client-facing job at Goodwill’s corporate offices in Germantown, and Achiever of the Year Robbie Chandler, who overcame addiction, received construction training and became a maintenance technician.  

Synonymous with closet clean-outs and upcycling, Goodwill provides many more services than collecting and reselling items through its retail outlets and e-commerce platform. With free classes and curricula in technology, construction and other high-demand job skills, like forklift operation, Goodwill seeks to change lives through education, training and employment. Event chairs Mary Lindley Hubbard and Patti Smallwood conveyed that message eloquently from the podium, while dressed elegantly in outfits they purchased from Goodwill’s online store.

Goodwill is currently in the process of consolidating corporate offices and education programs at a new MetroCenter location, president and CEO Matthew Bourlakas announced to a luncheon audience of almost 700 guests. The new Opportunity Campus will house job-training programs, including the construction course and a four-week solar-panel-installation class that prepares participants for jobs in the high-growth clean energy sector.

In addition to workforce development training programs, the Opportunity Campus, due to open in 2025, will house a high school program for adults who want to earn a secondary school diploma but need flexible scheduling to accommodate work and other demands.