May 2024

greetings with JOY and gratitude from all of us in the Community of HOPE!!

 

The ministry God has trusted us with is growing. We are connecting, loving, serving, and sharing our lives with a lot of vulnerable people. From those who volunteer through the Transformation Station (we provided vehicle #203 in April) to those who stay at the Timothy House we are developing relationships with people we would not naturally meet in the course of our day. And the word is intentional. We have been GOING all over Athens County (from Coolville to New Marshfield) this Spring planting gardens and serving neighbors who experience vulnerability and disability at their homes. We have been hosting many adults and children who experience food insecurity and hunger through Friday Night Life as we provide both social and physical nutrition. We give thanks for all of those who visit and serve alongside us!

A little girl whose family stayed at the Timothy House recently was a ray of sunshine for the whole house. She loved to play with her siblings, other residents, staff, and volunteers. Whenever there was a shift change, she would knock on the office door repeatedly until the staff who had just arrived at the house was available. As soon as the office door was opened, she would ask, “Do you wanna play?” Other residents loved to joke around with her. She brought lots of life to the house. The day after that family moved out, I was at the Timothy House in the morning, and while all of the single men who were left in the house were quietly getting their breakfast and coffee in the kitchen, I heard one of them comment, “I don’t know what to do anymore, now that the family is gone.” As all of us staff and volunteers work for good things for our residents and seek to build meaningful relationships with them, sometimes someone like this very young resident will appear and naturally bring good and joy to the rest of the house and to all of us. 

– Sophie Mather-Smith  (Sophie participated in several Appalachian Immersion Internships before she came on staff. She and Garrett Smith met at Good Works and were married in 2023.)

There is a pattern in the Good Works community for transforming broken people and broken places. The pattern has two parts that I have observed, God moves into the life of broken people. Then, the broken people who are now transformed people become themselves transformers that help restore their broken communities. I experienced this myself years ago. I recently observed this again with a neighbor’s son we were helping through Neighbors helping Neighbors. Bob was in active addiction when I first met him, and due to his addiction, he was charged with a drug offense. When we would go out to serve his mother we began to pray for Bob and soon after he entered a recovery program, and then began helping us with various projects at his mother’s home. Bob’s mother eventually became ill and Bob quit working to care for his mother in her trailer park. A short time later, Bob’s name came up on our Transformation Station (TS)

list (he had signed up months earlier) and he started volunteering with Good Works through the TS to work for a vehicle. Bob’s mother was in hospice care during his volunteering, and we would pray for his mother’s healing and for Bob’s. Bob’s mom eventually got better, and Bob said, the prayers are helping her! I watched Bob come out of addiction, care for his mother, and earn a car over several months. After he received his car, he was so moved that he came back to volunteer for bicycles to donate to kids in his local trailer park.  Bob experienced transformation, and now continues to be a transformer in community!

– Buddy Ballard (Buddy has been on staff with Good Works for 9 years. He is also a former resident of the Timothy House)

IN THE NEWS…

Photo at left: It was a beautiful day for a Transformation Station Celebration on April 18th.  Photo at right, each time one of our staff completes their season with Good Works we gather for a meal and offer words of gratitude and affirmation. We want everyone to finish well.

In Closing

IN CLOSING, I want to encourage you to visit for a day or two this Summer or Fall. Come to walk the trails (photo above at left), join us for Friday Night Life (photo above is of people playing Apples to Apples and 9 Square at FNL); visit the Good Works Timothy House and Sign of HOPE or join us for a Neighbors visit. Come and spend some time at the Carter Cabin or join us as we gather for community time on a Tuesday morning or Friday afternoon. We are aware that God is at work in and through us to be agents of healing, and also to show people pathways of HOPE. 

PS - If you would like to participate in the mission and ministry of Good Works through giving, you can send a gift to:

Good Works

PO Box 4,

Athens, Ohio 45701

 

Or visit the MAKE A DONATION part of our website
https://good-works.net/make-a-donation-2/

740.594.3339