Yolanda Chavers, Goodwill North Central Texas’s 2018 Team Member of the Year, is thankful for Goodwill because of the changes it makes in people’s lives, but her team says that she’s the one making changes in theirs.
“Yolanda is an absolute joy to work with and a true team leader in everything she takes on,” said Sandy Smith, Retail Services Director-West, and Yolanda’s supervisor.
Yolanda began work at Goodwill in 2010 as assistant store manager at the Weatherford location, and was promoted to store manager in 2013 after the previous store manager retired. Since joining Goodwill, Yolanda has brought smiles and growth to her store.
“You have customers that come in daily and they’ll let you know that Goodwill in Weatherford is their Goodwill family,” said Smith.
As store manager, Yolanda oversees the daily operations of the Weatherford location. She supervises and trains personnel, as well as manages the daily maintenance, and care of the store itself.
“We go that extra mile, and Yolanda is definitely the first to say she wants us to know [customers] by name, because they tend to be family, said Charlie Wilson, Assistant Store Manager.
While Yolanda credits the Goodwill mission as being her driving force, her leadership has brought a lot of growth to her store and team. Her staff says she is their biggest cheerleader, she has a huge heart and truly cares about everyone – encouraging them to do their personal best, and providing them the tools to get there.
“There is a saying, and they call it S.M.I.L.E., and we try to live that process,” said Yolanda. “We enjoy our job, we go with the theory of working hard, playing hard, so we try to have fun in everything that we do – if you’ve got to be at work, you might as well have fun.”