Meet Our Team: The Faces Behind Goodwill Acadiana

Our team members work very hard every day to ensure our customers and our community have a great experience at our stores and donation centers. They all have their own responsibilities, and they all have different stories!

Meet Franchesca

Franchesca is one of our dedicated board members trying to uplift our youth! She is the Senior Managing Attorney for the Children in Need of Care (CINC) Unit at Acadiana Legal Service Corporation, where she works tirelessly to reunite families and help them thrive.

Her impact spreads far and wide! She represents the Louisiana State Bar Association on the Louisiana Children's Trust Fund Board, and she's served on multiple nonprofit Boards, including Faith House of Acadiana, The Family Tree, and Girl Scouts of Louisiana - Pines to the Gulf.

"I love most serving alongside amazing Board Members and Goodwill staff who all share a common goal of wanting to do good for the community. The camaraderie is incomparable!"

We're grateful for Fran's continued leadership and service to our community to fulfill our mission to reduce poverty, restore independence, and transform lives in Acadiana!

Meet Michael

After graduating from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, Michael said "I wasn't sure what I was going to do, and Goodwill helped out."

He joined our Goodwill family 4 years ago and has worked all over, starting in our janitorial services at South Louisiana Community College, then as a night shift donor attendant at our Carencro store, and now as a Program Participant at GoodPrints, our mission-integrated print shop where he found his purpose!

He loves the structure that Goodwill provides, saying "I love the overall job environment. It's clean, orderly, safe, and efficient." And he loves the people too. "We're a team! Teamwork makes the dream work - that's what I was told."

His favorite thing about Goodwill: "It gives me something worthwhile to do"

Mike also finds pride in being a part of our Faces campaign, saying "You see my face on trucks all over town. Donors doors. Signs. I'm the poster boy of Goodwill!"

His message to others: "Goodwill makes a difference, and over here, you can be the difference."

When you donate and shop at Goodwill Acadiana, you support local people like Michael!

Meet Kristi

Kristi left everything twice while fleeing domestic violence, even while recently having a baby the second time. Both times, she received a helping hand from Goodwill's crisis assistance services.

"I was able to get the help I needed when I was in crisis."

She was unemployed after a car accident that sadly resulted in the loss of her friend, and that's when Goodwill turned from a place for short-term assistance to a stable job where she could better support herself.

Since working at Goodwill, she's been able to overcome her hurdles and feel better about herself, saying that her life "changed in all the right ways. This is the first place I've worked where I feel really supported by the whole team!"

When asked about her favorite part of working at Goodwill, she said "The people. Not just the people I work with - the customers too."

Her message to others: "Give back to your community. It's not just an act of service. It makes you a part of the community."

Through her many challenges and triumphs, she's an exceptional example of a woman who persevered through it all!

Their Impact

Franchesca, Michael, and Kristi have different roles and different stories, but they all share one goal - helping our neighbors in Acadiana thrive.

From the boardroom to the print ship to our stores, our team shows what it looks like when a community takes care of its own. When you donate or shop at Goodwill Acadiana, you support people like them and the mission we work toward every day. Visit your nearest store or donation center to help write the next one!

Second Chances Start Here: A Look Inside Goodwill Acadiana's Services

Every day we meet people who see our stores and think, "that's just a thrift shop." But here's the fun thing: It's so much more than that!

Behind every donation is a program helping a neighbor get back on their feet, whether that's earning a high school diploma, finding steady work, or just getting through a rough patch. So do us a favor- tell a friend. YOU can be the reason someone takes their first step toward a second chance!

Free Adult Education

One of the services we offer is free adult education. Whether you've been out of school for one year or 20, it's never too late to start again. Our classes are led by experienced teachers and built around you, so you can work at your own pace, no matter where you're starting from.

Getting your HiSET is just the first milestone. It's proof to yourself that you can do this, and it opens the door to a new career. We've helped over 200 adults earn their HiSET, and you can be one of them.

And graduation isn't goodbye. We're here for you every step of the way, whether that's helping you figure out your next move, connecting you with our employment services, or just cheering you on!

Employment Services and Job Training

Another service we offer is employment services and job training. This means free, hands-on help with everything from work readiness to landing that next job. If you walk into our Mission Services office, we've got real support waiting for you - not just a pamphlet.

We'll walk through the job search with you, one step at a time. That might look like a career assessment to help you figure out what direction fits you best, building a resume that actually gets noticed, or practicing interview skills until you walk out feeling ready and confident!

We're proud to have helped over 275 locally employed people across Acadiana, each of whom started exactly where you might be right now: unsure of the next step, but ready to take it. Our goal isn't just to get you a job. It's to help you build the confidence and independence to thrive in a career you're proud of.

Crisis Assistance

At Goodwill Acadiana, we also help individuals who are experiencing an urgent, unforeseen crisis, whether that's a house fire, housing instability, a natural disaster, or something else entirely. It's hard to get back on your feet after a tragedy hits your home without warning, and we know that better than most.

Nobody can predict a crisis, and nobody should have to face one alone. That's why we do what we can to be there for our neighbors when it matters most. You don't have to have it all figured out. You just have to ask.

To use this service, we require a referral from an outside agency (like 232-HELP, United Way of Acadiana, or the American Red Cross of Louisiana) to confirm eligibility and figure out the right program for your situation. Once that's approved, you can receive a Goodwill voucher to use toward essential items like clothing, furniture, and household goods. The things you need to start rebuilding.

Pre-Vocational Habilitation

At Goodwill Acadiana, we offer plenty of opportunities for pre-vocational habilitation. If you've never heard the term, it's a service that helps people with disabilities build the everyday skills needed to start working toward a career. This includes following directions, staying on task, and working well with a team. We want to open the door to meaningful employment for individuals with physical or developmental barriers.

At GoodPrints, we're doing exactly that. Through hands-on work in screen printing and embroidery, our team members are building real, transferable skills that build confidence and open doors to future employment. The team we have now is growing every day, figuring out what they're capable of everyday along the way. And we're not stopping here. We want to keep building on that momentum and give even more people the chance to discover what they can do.

Affordable Housing

Our knowledgeable and trustworthy staff also manages over 35 properties across Acadiana, including independent living facilities for seniors, disabled individuals, and low-income families. Safe, stable housing shouldn't be out of reach for anyone, and we believe everyone deserves a roof over their head.

For a lot of families, finding a place that's affordable and actually well-kept is one of the hardest parts of everyday life. Our properties are built to take that weight off, giving people a place to land that's clean, safe, and within reach, so they can focus on the rest of what life throws at them.

If you'd like to learn more or see what's available, visit our property management website for more information.

Our Local Impact

With all of the services we offer our community, we've served over 60,000 people in Acadiana since 2017 and diverted 10.9 million pounds of items from landfills in 2024 alone. Every one of those numbers is a person, a family, a fresh start.

Goodwill Acadiana's mission has always been to reduce poverty, restore independence, and transform lives all across Acadiana. Everything you just read about is us living that out, one person at a time.

But we can't do it alone. You can help us reach even more of our neighbors just by sharing our story and telling someone who's struggling that help exists and it's closer than they think. If any of these services speak to you, or to someone you know, visit our website to get the help you need. We'll be here, ready to walk with you every step of the way.

Behind the Scenes: What Our CARF Accreditation Means for Acadiana

What is CARF? 

In 2025, Goodwill Acadiana proudly earned its most recent re-accreditation from CARF, the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities. This 3-year accreditation carries us through 2028, when we'll go through the review process again to keep our standards high.

CARF is an independent, nonprofit accrediting body that reviews health and human service organizations, including rehab programs, employment services, behavioral health, and aging services, to make sure they're delivering safe and effective care.

The review looks closely at how we run our programs, from employment services and job placement to adult education and crisis assistance, checking that every service meets internationally recognized standards for quality and outcomes.

The Standard Behind the Seal

Any organization with a CARF accreditation has gone through this voluntary review process and met international standards for quality, safety, and effectiveness in how it delivers their services. When CARF reviewed our many services, they confirmed that we met the international standards for how those services were delivered.

This wasn't the first time Goodwill Acadiana has earned this recognition. We've received this accreditation in the past too, and each one required us to show that our programs are meeting people's needs the right way. That kind of consistency doesn't happen by accident. It shows a track record of great quality, and it's the standard we hold ourselves to every day, whether or not CARF is in the room.

What It Means for Acadiana

This achievement represents the hard work of our entire Goodwill Acadiana team and reassures our community, our partners, and the people we serve that our programs meet high standards for quality and compassion. It also matters for practical reasons: many grants, government contracts, and community partnerships require this kind of accreditation before they'll work with an organization, so it opens doors that let us keep growing our reach.

In 2025 alone, we touched over 9,000 lives across Acadiana through housing support, employment programs, education, and crisis assistance, and this re-accreditation is a big part of how we can promise that help is delivered the right way. It's proof that the trust Acadiana has placed in us for 35 years is well-earned, and we're committed to honoring it every day.