HOUSTON – You may love your local Goodwill Houston store, but maybe not as much as nine year old Noah Hinojosa. He is a superfan of his local store in The Woodlands.
Houston Life’s Melanie Camp spent some time browsing the aisles with Noah and chatting with his many fans at the store to learn about why Goodwill Houston makes him so happy.
Watch the video above!
Noah loves visiting his local Goodwill Houston store in The Woodlands. And needless to say, everyone at this store loves a visit from Noah. Store Manager, Syliva Guzman told Houston Life that Noah, his grandmother, and his mother, Christina come into the store almost every day.
“You never know what you find. It’s like a treasure hunt,” said Noah.
Seeing Noah run into the store, “makes my heart happy,’ said Noah’s mom. “One time, I was told that he wouldn’t be able to do anything, walk or talk.”
Born at 25 weeks, Noah spent the first 409 days of his life in the NICU.
“I call him my subway sandwich, baby, because he was 12 inches, the size of a Subway sandwich. He didn’t start walking and talking until he was about four years old,” Christina told Houston Life.
Noah loves visiting Goodwill Houston so much that he has told Sylvia, when he grows up he wants her job.
“I’ve got to look out for him,” said Sylvia, laughing.
Barbara Parker is the Vice President of Fund Development and Community Relations for Goodwill Houston. “What a wonderful superfan Noah is! Goodwill Houston provides free education, training, and job opportunities to people with barriers to employment.”
Noah brings a lot of joy to everyone when he visits the store. ”Noah means family. Our customers love Noah. Our team members love him. He brings a big burst of excitement when he’s in our stores,” said Goodwill District Director, Minyette Thomas.
Seeing how much Noah loves Goodwill moved Sylvia to tears. “I do what I do and I love my job because people like him. He’s something else. We know as managers here and as employees, we are changing lives through the power of work. But when you actually have that one person in your store who is so welcoming of Goodwill and it’s process, I mean, you can’t get better than that.”
Visit the Goodwill Houston website for more at GoodwillHouston.org or call 713-692-6221