A Good Coach and Mentor

Terry, a Winston-Salem native, is a single dad with three children.  He began raising them alone when they were all in elementary school. Terry is self-confident, open, articulate, intelligent, very likable and proud that he is a high school graduate.

Terry shares, however, that he knew early on that a High School Diploma alone would not allow him to achieve his career goals – which were to learn a skilled trade and earn the credentials to get a job that paid well and provided for his family.

Terry’s goals lead him to The Prosperity Center for guidance and support. He says he first met Christian, the job coach who helped him improve his computer skills and revamp his resume.  Christian then introduced him to Richard Totten, who became Terry’s primary contact and job coach.

Richard encouraged and supported him in qualifying for Goodwill’s Forklift class, for which he is grateful. He successfully completed the class and earned his forklift license, which Terry says “got him a pretty good job.”

Terry went on to obtain his Class A CDL license in 2018, through Goodwill’s partnership with TransTech. He speaks highly of his instructor, Lynn Younger, who he refers to as “good people”.

He laughs as he shares the experiences that motivated him to obtain his CDL license. Several years ago, he was employed by the City of Winston-Salem as a maintenance worker, performing manual labor which included digging ditches. He recalls watching the heavy equipment operators, delivering loads of dirt to his worksite, where all they had to do was dump that load and drive away.  He remembers saying to himself “That’s the job I want!”, which lead him back to Goodwill to obtain his CDL license!  He views achieving that goal as a “big accomplishment.”

Terry is currently working for the City of High Point, commuting from Winston-Salem. He has nothing negative to say about his job, just the commute, so his goal is to obtain employment in Winston-Salem.

When asked about his ultimate career goal, Terry becomes very enthusiastic.  He shares that he wants to pursue his education to become a youth counselor because he loved serving as a coach for his son’s football team.  He takes pride in the fact that many of the kids he coached still remember him as that “good coach” who not only enabled them to improve their game but also cared about and mentored them.  Terry says he gets along well with people and is well-known and liked in Winston-Salem. He is most proud of his ability to establish relationships of trust with young people, toward having a positive impact on them and their lives.

Terry still takes advantage of The Prosperity Center’s services and Richard’s mentoring and support, as he has encouraged Terry to pursue his dream. Richard has advised him to begin by learning about the course requirements via the internet and consider earning his degree online.

Terry’s advice to anyone who is searching for and working toward a better job and life is to “Keep your head up; there will always be challenges for you and your family. No matter what kind of challenges you’re dealing with, keep moving forward – step by step.  You can’t get everything done in one day, but you can get it done if you take it one step at a time.”

He credits Goodwill for everything he has achieved, his Forklift License and Class A CDL, saying none of this would have happened without all the good people who encouraged and supported him every step of the way, in learning about and taking advantage of these opportunities to improve his and his family’s future.