My Story: Helen Lopez

Helen Lopez has always had a passion for helping others and it has shown in everything she does over the past 27 years.

Helen began her career with Goodwill Fort Worth in 1990 as a contracted Janitor at the Federal Center. During her time at the Federal Center, Helen was promoted to supervisor and finally manager.  In 2005, she transferred to the Facility Based Contracts division as a Production Tech where she worked with Goodwill Fort Worth’s most significantly disabled population as they worked on contracts.  Soon she was the manager over the program.  Over the years in that role she not only acted as a supervisor, but as a friend, a counselor, a disciplinarian, and a mother figure.

Soon Helen found herself at a crossroad. Goodwill’s workshop was closing, but they were opening something much better.  Enter Goodwill S.T.A.R.S.!  S.T.A.R.S. stands for Skills Training Achieves Results and is a one of a kind day habilitation program for disabled adults.  At S.T.A.R.S., participants have a chance to learn real life skills while having fun and interacting with other staff and participants at the same time.  While many would balk at the complete change in job duties, Helen dove in head first getting additional training and making the S.T.A.R.S. program the best it could possibly be.  She is loved by the program participants and staff alike.

In February of 2017, Helen was selected out of several hundred employees by Executive Staff as Goodwill Fort Worth’s Team Member of the Year. She was selected because of her hard work, positive attitude and dedication to the mission of Goodwill.  “We lost a team member this year after a long illness and it kind of depressed me, so being selected as Team Member of the Year couldn’t have come at a better time.  It’s definitely lifted my spirits.  Goodwill is my home and this team is my family.” says Helen.

NOTE: As originally posted on Goodwill Industries Fort Worth.