My Story: Nancy Nance

Previously incarcerated, jobless and living in a shelter — High Point resident Nancy Nance was out of options.

A mother with two kids and one grandchild, Nance was haunted by her past mistakes.

“I had been unemployed for about ten months, which is the longest I had been unemployed,” Nance says. “And because of some bad choices I had made, I got myself into a situation, and I couldn’t get a job.”

Motivated by her children to achieve something with her life, Nance entered Triad Goodwill’s Jobs on the Outside program in 2018, and quickly joined their Work Experience Program immediately after that.

During this time, Nance’s dedication to improving her life through the power of work was apparent to everyone around her.

Nance acquired housing on her own, and upon completing the programs she was immediately recruited to work at one of Triad Goodwill’s Retail Stores and Donation Centers located in Jamestown, where she was fast-tracked from a part-time job to a full-time job in record time.

In just over one year, working with Triad Goodwill helped Nance rediscover a once lost sense of purpose and value.

“You just have no idea to come from losing everything and having nothing to feeling like somebody noticed there was some potential in me still; to just feel valued again,” Nance says. And it just starts changing your mindset. Your children start noticing, ‘Hey mom’s changing.’”

Nance not only improved her life, but also inspired the lives of her children.

“Even though they aren’t young children anymore, they have always seen me as an achiever,” Nance says.

“And my motivation was to find myself and prove to them that my mistake doesn’t define who I am.”

When you donate and shop at your local Goodwill, you help individuals like Nancy reach their full potential through the power of work. In fact, 87 cents of every dollar you spend in our retail stores and through shopgoodwill.com and other e-commerce platforms is reinvested in your community to create employment placement, job training and career support services. Find the location closest to you or make a monetary donation to show your support

Note: As originally posted on Triad Goodwill.