When Idamae moved back to Sandusky from North Carolina, she knew she had to do something.
Wanting to get out of the house and learn computer skills, she came to Goodwill and signed up for the Senior Community Service Employment Program (SCSEP) and began her training at the Boys & Girls Club.
“It was a good place to work, but I still wasn’t satisfied,” she said. “Because it was not what I really wanted to do. That’s when I found out about computer classes, so I started taking them, and I was trying to encourage everyone else (to take them), but they didn’t want to do it!”
From there, Idamae took on a role as Goodwill’s receptionist for a short time before moving into the SCSEP office as an assistant to Christine Zimmer, who was the SCSEP Manager at the time.
“Christine was very – not pushy, but firm with me – like, ‘come on, you can do it!'” Idamae said. “Christine got a position for me back here in the (SCSEP) office and I took my classes at the computer, and I just took it from there. It seemed like at first I was like, ‘I don’t think I can do this,’ but now I’m still at it, so from 2023 to now, I’ve been working as the Assistant Manager for the SCSEP Program.”
February of 2026 marked Idamae’s sixth year with Goodwill, starting with her time as a participant in SCSEP, and she said she’s learned a lot in that time.
“I always get a lot of compliments, that ‘you’re a fast learner’ and this and that, so I’m pretty proud of myself,” she said. “I started from the beginning at zero, and you’re never too old to learn. And I’m still willing to take more classes to advance myself even more because I like what I do. I thank God for all the support from the Goodwill that I’ve been getting from coworkers and everyone here.”
As a former SCSEP participant herself, Idamae has experience to share when helping new participants sign up for the program.
“I communicate with the participants, I get them in the program, and I can help them too with places I’ve been and let them know, ‘if I can do it, you can do it,'” she said. “I let them know what I went through, and I did it. I was scared, nervous, I just had low self-esteem at the time, and it seemed like that’s all disappeared because I feel strong in what I do and I know I can do it.
“Sometimes I’ll teach myself, too,” she added. “I even, what do they say, ‘Google it?,’ so sometimes I’ll do that. I’m a self-learner.”
Looking to the future, Idamae wants to continue the work she’s been doing, as well as help out in other ways in the Mission Department.
“I just want to be helpful to others,” she said. “Because you never know who needs anything. I’m happy, it makes my day when I see a smile from helping someone.”