Meet Lyric

Not long ago, Lyric walked the stage to pick up her GED Certificate through Goodwill. When she left after the reception celebration, she drove her own car to her own apartment in Austin, TX. The next day, she would attend her classes at Austin Community College, where she’s going to school full-time enrolled in General Studies. She’s considering majoring in Film or Music (her friends think that’s ironic, since her name is Lyric).

But it wasn’t always like that.

Lyric had to face many obstacles and make some tough choices before she ever approached Goodwill Central Texas for help: “The day I walked into a Salvation Army homeless shelter to live, the day I had to drop out of high school, and any number of times my mom was in the hospital were all huge obstacles for me,” Lyric recounts.

It was always just Lyric and her mother. Her mother studied music at Howard University, was an English teacher, and always had a song in her heart. But slowly, over the years, her mother developed a disability and her health eventually deteriorated to the point that resulted in homelessness. Lyric was 9 years old and living in a shelter with her mother. “She stopped singing, and so did I,” says Lyric sadly.

When they ran out of options in Indiana three years ago, they decided on Austin. They moved into the Salvation Army shelter and Lyric enrolled in High School, taking Einstein classes and performing in musical theater. But taking care of her mom and living in the shelter took its toll. Lyric dropped out of high school at the beginning of her senior year.

She came to Goodwill for help, and her Career Case Manager, Lindsey, started Lyric in GED classes, which she finished in just a few months. Lindsey also helped her with housing and transportation issues, because at 18, Lyric had made the hard choice to leave the shelter and her mother, and live on her own.

That choice was the right one. Her mother is doing fine, living in regular housing, with a dear family friend. And Lyric is more than fine. “With my job and my college, I’m excited to see what my future holds.”

“I plan to transfer to Texas State next year to finish out my degree,” she says proudly. “Goodwill gave me the education and the encouragement to go for what I really want in life,” she added. “It’s up to me to put in the work. If you put in the work, you can accomplish anything. It’s a choice. And I choose to sing again.”