After 28 years of marriage, I found myself going through a devastating divorce. I had been a stay-at-home mom during my marriage and soon discovered that I had little to no experience that would help me in re-entering the work force. A friend told me about a program that Deseret Industries offered to help people acquire skills and experience to obtain work. I felt it would be a good opportunity to rebuild my abilities as well as my resume.

My bishop helped me work through the application process and shortly after, I began working at the DI. Even though I had been donating to this store for over 30 years, I was so overwhelmed by the behind-the-scenes operations, that when I went home that first night, I could not stop myself from crying. I was so amazed by the enormous number of items that people give away and how much work it takes to make this store successful.

I knew the program was focused on improving and becoming self-reliant, but I never realized the true extent of it. I felt like a field mouse in a corn maze, never truly aware of the tremendous work that was necessary to make everything happen. It was an awesome world-wide humanitarian effort and I was grateful to have taken a small part in it.

My goal when I began working at the DI was to end the program as an aide at an elementary school. The DI staff helped me set weekly goals and helped me accomplish them. As I diligently worked toward these short-term goals, I could gradually see the long-term goal appear before me. The staff also helped me with learning and re-learning the math skills that I had long forgotten, enough to be able to go back to college and enter the education program.

With my newly developed skills from the DI, I have been fortunate to have find work as a reading interventionist at a low income school. I continue to pursue my dream of becoming an elementary school teacher. I know it has only happened through the help of my DI mentors, who encouraged me to pursue my educational endeavors, one step at a time.