Goodwill Industries of Middle Georgia and the CSRA joins other Goodwills around the world in celebrating Goodwill Industries Week from May 7-13, observing more than 115 years of helping individuals through career services.

Every day, Goodwill connects people who are unemployed or underemployed with career navigation and skills attainment so they can advance their careers and earn long-term economic stability for themselves and their families.

These human impact stories include people like Chris Cockrell, who came to Goodwill in search of employment assistance because of visual impairment and physical disabilities. “Goodwill has helped me to gain my self-confidence back and prove that I can still do a lot of things I previously did,” said Cockrell, who works in the electronics processing department at Goodwill’s Aiken retail training store. “Goodwill has given me the dignity of earning a paycheck again.”

Nominated for the 2016 Goodwill International Achiever of the Year Award, Cockrell will be recognized at Goodwill’s CSRA employee meeting on May 11 at the Snelling Center in Augusta. Also honored during Goodwill Week will be Chris Finley, Goodwill’s Director of Contract Services, nominated for the National Council of SourceAmerica Employers 2016 Management Excellence Award. Finley will be honored at the Middle Georgia employee meeting on May 10 at Macon’s Anderson Conference Center.

“Goodwill is inviting people around the world to celebrate Goodwill Industries Week and make a difference in their communities by donating things they used to love and no longer use, by shopping at our Goodwill stores, or by volunteering at Goodwill or Helms College,” said James K. Stiff, President of Goodwill Industries of Middle Georgia and the CSRA. “Goodwill helps people achieve independence through education and the power of work.”