Goodwill

Minerva Mandujano

“They don’t have to be afraid. They have to believe they can do it.”

On June 14th, Flag Day, Minerva Mandujano, a cashier at our Hillsboro Goodwill store was proudly sworn in as a United States citizen after determinedly working towards this goal for more than fifteen years.

The soft-spoken Mandujano emigrated to America from Michoacan, Mexico in 1991 to join her fiancé Pascual. The couple and their two children eventually settled in Washington County, Oregon.  

Mandujano applied for a job at Goodwill five years ago but worried she would be turned down because she only had a sixth-grade education and poor English skills. Instead of focusing on her barriers to employment, we focused on her potential and offered her a job at our Hillsboro Outlet. Mandujano’s high level of energy and productivity on the job made her stand out from the crowd immediately.  

Later, when Mandujano transferred to the Forest Grove store, she decided to enroll in one of our free, on-the-job English language classes. She knew learning English would help her earn citizenship and assist her as she worked toward securing a cashier position.

Mandujano’s studies and hard work paid off this summer when she was promoted to a Goodwill casher position and two days latter passed her citizenship exam with flying colors. She recalls the swearing in ceremony clearly. “There were people from 19 countries there. I was so proud to be there with them.”  Mandujano’s children, who are both honor roll students, are very pleased their mom can now vote alongside their dad in upcoming elections. 

When asked what she would most like to tell her fellow immigrants Mandujano replies, “They don’t have to be afraid; they have to believe they can do it.”