Goodwill Industries Promotes Marlynn Lacy to Employment Services Coordinator Position

Marlynn Lacy is excited to begin his new position

Soft spoken, mission driven and an advocate of education, it is hard to picture Marlynn Lacy as a tough football player.  But, that is where he learned discipline, working as a team, and the support of a brotherhood.  After playing for Arp High School , Tyler Junior College and then on to East Texas Baptist University in Marshall, Marlynn states that this is where he learned the value of support for others.  He credits his family for his strong values and upbringing, but Marlynn also understands how it feels to have something “missing” in his life. His large family was not always a part of his life. He currently has 2 brothers, one sister and 3 step brothers, but for the first 10 years of his life, there was no father figure there for him.  He knew what it was like to feel “different” and to have to find role models in the form of coaches, teachers and friends to fill that gap.

Marlynn believes that this is why his dream to coach, teach and be a counselor found their roots.   He has found all three of these in his new position as Employment Services Coordinator at Goodwill Industries of East Texas.  Starting as a Job Coach in March of 2011, Marlynn freely admits that Goodwill’s 100% tuition reimbursement benefit is the reason he agreed to leave his job at the Azleway Boys Ranch.  He thought he had found there the perfect combination of helping troubled young men by playing football with them and being a role model as so many coaches had been for him. But the lure of financial assistance to achieve his dream of a Masters Degree, as well as some persistence from Goodwill Managers Heather Goggans and Kim Sober, convinced him that Goodwill Industries could also be the path to his dreams.

While he still mentors a couple of boys from Azleway, Marlynn has found that his role as the Employment Services Coordinator allows him to help individuals with some type of barrier to employment on a long term basis. These barriers could be mental, physical, medical or previous poor choices to overcome.  He prepares them with life skills, emphasizing the importance of communication, how to fill out an application and how to be professional in an interview.  He wants the individuals he works with to know that they are not alone in their differences.  He knows they just need a chance, someone to look up to, someone to guide them and provide patient instruction.

Patience!  When asked what he has learned in the short time he has been with Goodwill, he blurts out patience immediately.  He states that he has had to learn that results do not happen overnight.  Sometimes he must work with an individual on interviewing skills for 6 months or send them on 15 different interviews before his candidate is offered a job.  But Marlynn says patience is what he has learned from his candidates.  “They do not get frustrated, so I cannot get frustrated. My candidates keep a positive attitude and keep trying… I have learned that the power of wanting to work has no time frame.”

Marlynn wishes most people knew Goodwill offers more than just a place where people can make donations and purchase items at the retail store.  While these are extremely important, for they fund his services, he wants to get Goodwill’s mission statement out to the public: {“Goodwill Industries of East Texas, Inc. is dedicated to providing skills, training, and vocational opportunities for people with barriers to employment.”} “I hope in due time, people in the community, especially employers, will understand that just because someone has a disadvantage, physical and/or mental barrier, or some other type of limitation, doesn’t mean a person is different from any other person.  We are all human beings and God’s children”.

We wish Marlynn great success in his new position and feel certain he will continue to be an asset to this mission of

Marlynn explaining how a job coach will assist a new candidate.

“Putting People to Work”.

You can contact Goodwill for more information about our services through our website: www.goodwilleasttexas.com or find us  on  for regular updates.