We write with gratitude! The Timothy House(TH) has been very busy this month with several families with very young children and babies in addition to the single adults. Our objective is to sustain a safe, clean and stable (predictable) home while we help each resident identify, own, and move toward solutions to the situation they are in. We have 4 bedrooms and 15 beds. Oftentimes, the situation of homelessness feels overwhelming. We try to work with each person to help them identify a starting place. Through our volunteers and staff, we provide “a community net” where we work to help each person and family feel safe, heard, respected, supported, and accountable while they live at the TH. We help each resident look for housing and/or maintain employment and save money. Our rules (The Way We Are) are intended to provide the kind of structure which produces freedom; a place where everyone can feel safe.
As most of you know, DAY IN THE LIFE (DITL) is both a fund raiser and a yearly event. This year’s event will take place on Saturday, December 7 starting at 9:00 am at The Plains United Methodist Church (3 North Plains Road). We are planning several activities that day which are all intended as an educational and community building experience!
9:00 am - arrival and presentation from Keith Wasserman. Welcome to DITL!
9:30 am - TWO different experiences will be offered to choose from:
(1) Learning about the Chaos of Poverty. A poverty simulation experience with reflection (in partnership with the Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine). This experience welcomes children to participate.
(2) Learning about the Journey of Recovery. In partnership with Southwester Recovery Center in The Plains, participants will walk about a quarter mile to the Country Corners Shopping Center and experience a presentation/conversation on issues related to recovery. Afterwards, we will walk back and participate in a short experience we call The Race.
12:00 noon – A lunch of rice and beans will be provided along with short talks by former residents of the Timothy House.
The DITL fundraiser began September 1 and ends December 31. Our goal is to raise as many “days” in the Life of the Good Works Timothy House as possible for 2025. The budget for the Timothy House is about $180,500.00 a year (or $500.00 a day). Last year, we were able to raise $88,500 and provide funds for 178 days of shelter. We hope to exceed that this year! If you want to participate financially, send a check to Good Works in any amount or donate through our website. Please identify your gift DITL.
We are looking for volunteers to help with the DITL event on Saturday December 7th from 8:30 to 1 pm. Can you help? If so, contact us soon by email@good-works.net or by phone at 740.594.3339.
IN THE NEWS
About once each month, I lead our community in what we call a Staff Development Day. We talk about different passages from scripture (today it was Exodus 18) and we take turns leading a conversation on our different foundations. At our most recent Staff Development day, one of our staff led us in a really good discussion on an article I wrote called Witness. Ours. One of the highlights for me today was the Jeopardy Game which Garrett developed to help all of us learn some of the historical milestones at Good Works. It was fun, competitive and informative.
Loads of HOPE (our free laundromat) opened in September. We have a team of staff and volunteers who welcome adults and children every Thursday from 4:00 pm to 7:00 pm.
Through individual and group volunteers we have been serving many widows at their homes this fall during the week (when we have Work Retreat Groups) and on weekends. We are scheduling groups to come next Spring. Would you consider organizing a group to come for a Saturday or a weekend? We are also scheduling groups to join us for Work Retreats in the Spring of 2025.
In September we welcomed Heather Stump to the full-time staff. Heather is serving the community at Friday Night Life, with the Timothy House, and also with Neighbors Helping Neighbors! She completed our Summer Service Internship after she finished her master’s degree at OU.
Did you know? Good Works has almost 30 different volunteer opportunities from once a week to once a month to once a year! Visit our website to learn more.
Friday Night Life (FNL) returned to The Plains UMC in October. We are seeking groups of 5 to 10 people to sponsor ONE Friday Night Life dinner in 2025. FNL (now in year #32) starts at 4:30 pm and ends at 7:30 pm. We have activities for children, and community building games and music for adults. Aaron leads a team that organizes “take-home-food”, Garrett oversees community building activities. Keith and Tim Ling are leading a study on The Life of Jesus each week. In addition to the dinner each week participants can receive ‘take-home’ food, which is often fresh produce and shelf-life food.
NEIGHBORS HELPING NEIGHBORS (NHN)
"I have seen a pattern in the Good Works community for transforming broken people and broken places. The pattern has two parts: God moves into the life of broken people. And then the broken people who are now transformed become transformers that God uses to help restore their broken communities. I experienced this recently with a widow’s son we were helping through Neighbors helping Neighbors. Bob was in active addiction when we met him, and due to his addiction, he was charged with a drug offense. When we would go to serve his mother at her home, we began to pray with her for Bob. Soon, Bob entered a recovery program and then started helping us with various projects at his mother’s home. Bob’s mother eventually became very ill, and Bob quit working to care for his mother in her trailer park. Soon, Bob’s name came up on our list and he started volunteering in the Transformation Station to earn a vehicle. Bob’s mother went into hospice while he was volunteering, and we would often pray together with him for his mother’s healing. Bob’s mom eventually got better, and Bob told us, “The prayers are helping her”! I watched Bob come out of addiction, care for his mother, and earn a car. Bob was so moved by his experience with Good Works that after he received his car, 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 his community!”
– Buddy Ballard. Buddy was a resident in the Timothy House before joining the full-time staff many years ago. He oversees many of the NHN volunteers and projects. We began NHN in the late 1990s when we took volunteers to the homes of widows in Athens County.
IN CLOSING
I want to give THANKS for a wonderful team of staff and volunteers. Guided by the practices of Promise Keeping, Truth-Telling, Hospitality and Gratitude, we work at maintaining the unity we have received from God as a gift. Maintaining unity is primarily the work of humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with one another each day. As we work to ‘keep’ the unity, we experience the kingdom of God, and lean into the prayer of “on earth” as it is in heaven.
