greetings with JOY and gratitude from all of us in the Community of HOPE!!
“There is a season for everything” (Ecclesiastes 3:1). I didn’t make that up. WE are preparing for our 24th year of Summer Service.We have welcomed a lot of summer interns since the year 2000 whose lives have been impacted and altered through their internships with Good Works.
IN THE NEWS
Our Summer Interns arrived June 9th. They will live in the Good Works Hannah House all Summer, welcome (and host) our Work Retreat Groups, and serve alongside other staff through Neighbors Helping Neighbors, Kids Discovery Club, Sumner Lunch, The Transformation Station, and Friday Night Life. Our intention with these interns (and other staff) is to help them learn more about leadership development, discover JOY in their work, and help them grow in their capacity to carry responsibility.
Our Staff Reunion is scheduled for July 4,5 & 6. If you are a former staff or intern, contact us for more information.
Friday Night Life started year #32 in May. We have continued to host adults and children all these years. We are grateful for the hundreds of sponsoring groups (almost 50 each year) who bring food and friendship; and, for our volunteers and staff who come alongside in love for those who participate!
WEEK OF SERVICE is an opportunity to join us for 1 week this Summer or Fall to come alongside our staff and interns as we develop friendships and share our lives with others.
We are looking for a group who would DO a canned food drive for Good Works sometime this year. Click here to see the needs list.
There are two new short essays on the Timothy House section of our website (1) Beyond the Numbers: an essay on statistics with analysis and links to articles over the past 10 years (2) A short essay by Keith regarding why Good Works stopped receiving State Funds in 2014, and our objections to the mandate of the State to collect data on our residents without their permission.
We will soon prepare for another season of Saturday Service starting in September and going through November. Maybe you’d like to serve for a day (or more). We are currently scheduling groups (Work Retreats) for weekends this Fall.
Appalachian Immersion Internship starts another season in September. Maybe you know of someone who would enjoy the challenge of joining the GW Community for a short-term internship this Fall.
We have been very encouraged by the donation of several vehicles for the Transformation Station. Thank you for passing the word! We will soon provide vehicle #204.
We are traveling all over Athens County to the homes of Seniors (primarily widows and widowers) to do site visits to prepare for our Work Retreat Groups coming to serve this Summer through Neighbors Helping Neighbors.
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT
From the beginning of Good Works, (1981) I have focused on my own leadership development and on helping my co-workers and volunteers grow in their capacity to love, their skills at working with people, and their character as we together work to love and serve people who are in difficult situations. I also desire to be a catalyst in inspiring people to grow in their relationships with God and with one another. The practices of Promise Keeping, Truth Telling, Hospitality, and Gratitude are the “studs” in the wall of Good Works which hold up the community. The ethic of inefficiency serves us well in this regard. We take the time to slow down, process, and reflect so that we can learn from and benefit from one another, “spurring one another on” and encouraging one another along the journey of love and faithfulness.
Our community (and guests) gather together 3 days a week for lunch. Different people volunteer to prepare the meal. We are looking for a volunteer to serve one day a week this fall.
About once a month, staff and volunteers to put together our Newsletter. Keith writes and edits it with the help of other staff; and after it is folded, we organize a group of volunteers to help put it together.
“A few weeks ago, while on my way to work I passed by a former Transformation Station volunteer driving her car. She had the biggest smile on her face! Like a lot of volunteers that come into the program to work towards points for a car, it was a struggle. She didn’t have a car. She relied on rides from others or her bike to get her here and back home. She juggled many other life challenges along with this, balancing her job and helping her kids with her grandkids. She really seemed to be a great source of support for her family. I remember she was so nervous about driving because it had been so long since she had driven a car of her own. I asked where she was going to go first, she said to her daughters so that she could see her new car! It was a joy to see her work through this volunteer process and walk with her during her struggles and see the excitement that day she drove off in her newfound confidence.” – Kim Hudelson (Kim and her husband Jeremy joined the Good Works staff in 2020. They had visited several times before with Work Retreats from Indiana.)
"As I began my internship with Good Works, I felt uncertain, but hopeful, of what God was going to do through this experience. I had read and understood the mission that Good Works was aiming to accomplish, but this idea of connecting people from all walks of life, so that the Kingdom of God could be experienced, was made so clear to me when I met a certain family that was staying at the Timothy House. Melissa and her children brought joy, life, and fun to the house and to everyone in it. I could not help but want to spend time with and truly get to know them. As Melissa and I got to sit together and talk about her dreams for her future and her family it was evident that God was moving in her heart and using her and her family's stay at the Timothy House to bring HOPE to them in a season that could have felt hopeless time and time again. One day we were cleaning up after dinner and one of Melissa’s daughters, Christine, brought up how she had just recently been baptized! This conversation was beautiful and reminded me of how the kingdom of God is truly being experienced and expanded. I will forever be grateful that my life divinely intersected with Melissa, her family and the Good Works Community." – Stephanie Smith (Steph completed her internship with Good Works last Spring.)
NEIGHBORHOOD
Most of us live in some kind of a neighborhood. Often times, we try to be intentional about getting to know our neighbors and building trust. Good Works has three locations and we “live” in two different neighborhoods. WE seek to be good neighbors by learning, listening and serving in ways that show respect. We have felt supported by our neighbors in our mission and for this we are very grateful. It feels important to do what we do with a lens of respect and sensitivity to our immediate neighbors. Balancing the needs of those we serve (and the challenges they bring), and the needs of those who live near us feels important.
IN CLOSING
I feel very aware that I am at the half-way point of my 44th year with Good Works. I feel amazed and grateful! Amazed I still find JOY in the day-to-day life of ministry with people who have experienced hardship and brokenness. Grateful for the privilege of getting to do this work alongside some wonderful, kind, generous, thoughtful, and beautiful people each day!
PS -We will soon be preparing for DAY IN THE LIFE (DITL), an event scheduled for Saturday, December 7th here in Athens. DITL is our way of providing an inspiring and educational event for adults and children about what people experience when they are without a home. Would you consider coming this year? For more information, visit goodworksdayinthelife.net
