A North Whidbey-based nonprofit has been helping thousands of people worldwide hone their skills to become desirable job candidates.

Discreetly headquartered in a West Beach home, KeelWorks is putting to work about 400 interns, the great majority of whom help founder Thomas Garrod run the organization from different parts of the globe — without ever meeting in person.

While KeelWorks has seen many people come and go in its 16 years of existence, Garrod remains the sole fixture. As the nonprofit amasses an average of $1,000 in small donations in a typical year (with a record of $4,000 collected in 2024), the 73-year-old is fueled only by his passion for education, his social security retirement and a few side gigs that help him make ends meet while sitting through 40 to 60 meetings every week.

KeelWorks was born from Garrod’s dream of helping underachievers and college graduates with no professional experience unlock their potential and improve their lives.

Most of the interns — which tend to be between the ages of 20 and 40 but can also include teens and seniors — are recent college graduates who have a degree but no valuable work experience to add to their resumes. Others are individuals who have been in the workforce but need to “level up” or go back to work after a period of inactivity.

Some students even include young adults who were displaced by the war in Sudan and have been unable to complete their degrees in their home country, Garrod said.

A high school dropout and Army veteran, the Bellevue native was struggling to find his place in the world. His life changed at the age of 30, when he was diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, also known as ADHD.

Finally able to manage his symptoms and retain information from a textbook, he was able to earn a master’s degree in education, working as a technical editor for the Navy and an instructional designer for companies like Boeing, Intel and Microsoft.

If he was able to get that far, he thought, he could help others turn their lives around too.

The great majority of the interns at KeelWorks help Garrod run and improve its operations. Until three years ago, the nonprofit counted an average of 35 interns. Today, that number has increased by over ten times, offering positions such as software developers, project managers, product managers, instructional systems designers, public relations program managers, graphic artists, grant researchers and writers, data analysts and more. Many of the skills acquired can also be transferred to other careers once out of the program, Garrod said.

Interns meet with Garrod or a facilitator — who is an intern as well — once a week to discuss their work and the progress made in any group projects. By getting hands on experience, students can walk out of the program with confidence and a strong resume, he said.

“A company hires people who can prove they can help,” he said. “The only way you prove you can help somebody is you prove you’ve done it.”

One of the work groups is currently developing a residential water district app that homeowners can use to track their usage and expenses, as well as to get notified of any water shut-offs.

If he can’t put people to work at KeelWorks, Garrod will arrange for an internship elsewhere, like start-ups, which may not have the funds to hire paid staff but are in need of help.

On top of this work, interns can take a variety of courses. If they are not fluent in English, for example, they take an English class. The core classes, however, teach important life skills, such as self-identity, assertiveness, conflict resolution, team building and communication.

Without these skills, he said, even the most talented worker may not be able to keep a job.

KeelWorks is in the process of developing a program to help the most disadvantaged people, like individuals experiencing severe mental illnesses or homelessness, or ex-convicts.

Garrod said he has been in talks with SPiN Cafe to potentially create a trial group and put the idea to the test.

“If we can get these people to work, we can change their life but also make a difference on communities,” Garrod said.

The first phase of this program would consist of helping participants identify barriers to employment and their strengths. They would then take the core courses before being placed in an internship position, some outside of the nonprofit — for example, at an auto mechanic — or within KeelWorks, according to the website.

Garrod is hopeful that KeelWorks will qualify for more grants to eventually be able to pay his interns and find a successor, allowing him to finally enjoy his retirement. For the time being, he is happy to help people turn their lives around.

For more information, visit keelworks.org.