Meet Our Annual Award Winners
2022 Achiever of the Year:
Jacob Barrett
EVERYONE
DESERVES THE
OPPORTUNITY TO EXCEL
Can you keep up with someone like Jacob Barrett? He plays multiple sports in the Special Olympics, has a full-time job with ShopGoodwill.com® and is taking community college courses to become an IT specialist. It’s enough to exhaust most people, but Jacob is a self-described “go-getter.”
Education has always been of paramount importance to Jacob. He has progressive hearing and vision loss and is on the autism spectrum. When he wanted to pursue a career in IT, he came to The Excel Center® in Shelbyville, a Goodwill-operated, tuition-free adult high school at Goodwill of Central and Southern Indiana. It took him a few tries to pass the math assessment, but he didn’t give up. He eventually passed and went on to receive his certificate in IT fundamentals.
Jacob is continuing to work with his Goodwill mission coach as he grows in his education and his career.
“It changed my life,” Jacob says when describing his experience. “I just want to keep going, and going, and going. I’m not a quitter.”
2022 Kenneth Shaw Graduate of the Year:
Wes Sawyer
EVERYONE
DESERVES TO BREAK
THE CYCLE
Joseph “Wes” Sawyer endured more in his early years than many do throughout their lives. He was born with a congenital heart defect that required multiple surgeries at a young age. When he was a child, a shootout between his parents led to his dad’s incarceration and his mother’s deepened dependence on alcohol that eventually led to her death. After such a trying childhood, Wes was houseless as a teenager and found himself involved in gang activity that led to his own time in prison.
Wes came to Goodwill Industries of the Inland Northwest and entered an in-house training and assessment program. During the two-month program, his commitment and congenial personality endeared him to the entire team. He eventually received a full-time position at Goodwill and then carried that experience into a job in the construction industry.
With a stable job, Wes can provide a new life for himself and his family. As Wes describes it, “I wasn’t a happy person [before]. There wasn’t a lot for me to smile or be happy about. Through this process of getting sober for six years now and going through Goodwill, learning how to work…I’ve learned how to smile again.”
