Tim Willert
It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas inside the Goodwill
Industries store and donation center on Colorado Street. Bright red
banners hang from the ceiling, and holiday music fills the
10,000-square-foot building.
Employee Pedro Ibarra Suaste is dressed in what appears to be a
tuxedo as he sorts, hangs and prices donated clothing as job coach
Rachel Hernandez looks on.
"When I first started with Pedro, he had trouble paying attention,
and I couldn't get him to speak," Hernandez said. "He had the mind of
a 10-year-old."
Suaste, 32, has cerebral palsy, a condition that limits him
physically and mentally. But the disability is no longer a liability
in the eyes of store manager Sam Miller.
"Now, he's one of my hardest workers," Miller said.
Since 1916, Goodwill Industries of Southern California has
enhanced the lives of people with disabilities and other vocational
disadvantages by helping them become productive and self-sufficient
members of society.
Like Suaste, Carlos Viramontes and Lizbeth Cazares are products of
a Goodwill system that trains clients to do everything from punch a
time clock to write a resume. Viramontes and Cazares work behind the
scenes, but their contributions have plenty to do with the success of
the Colorado Street store, one of two in Glendale.
Viramontes, 35, unloads bin after bin of donations that come to
the store from the main plant on San Fernando Road in Los Angeles.
He also accepts walk-up donations and writes tax receipts for
customers. Although he has the mental capacity of a child between 6
and 10, Viramontes shows up for work on time with a smile on his
face.
"He enjoys coming to work, because if it wasn't for this, he would
be sitting home all day," said Cesar Perez, a Goodwill job coach who
monitors the progress of Viramontes and Cazares.
Cazares, 23, is responsible for sorting and pricing donations of
hard goods. She gives items such as shoes, electronics, and toys the
once over before they reach the sale floor.
"It makes me happy," she said. "I need to work. Otherwise, I'd be
depressed."
Cazares, who is considered high functioning despite a mental
disability, is taking computer classes through Goodwill in hopes of
getting a more challenging job.
"I want to be a designer," she said, smiling.
GROWTH SPURT
The Colorado Street store is one of the newest and largest in
Goodwill's Southern California chain, part of a trend to expand sales
of donated clothing, toys and housewares.
