YOU are invited to join us this fall for a weekly 1-hour class we call Neighboring 101
Beginning Tuesday September 30th, Good Works will be hosting a weekly lunch discussion of the book MAKING ROOM (Recovering Hospitality as a Christian Tradition) by Dr. Christine Pohl. The class will take place at Good Works Sign of HOPE (pictured below) at 100 Central Avenue in Athens for 8 Tuesdays from 12-1 pm. YOU are invited to join us as we learn about the history, vision and practice of hospitality. Christine Pohl has been a mentor to many of us in the Good Works community since Keith met her in 1989. Her books have helped to shape much of the vision and paradigm of Good Works.
For more information and to arrange to pick up a book, contact us through email@good-works.net or call us at 740.594.3339
September 2025
greetings from all of us in the Good Works community!
WE are well. WE are grateful. The summer of 2025 was intense but good. We were trusted with so many children, seniors, teenagers, and people experiencing homelessness. We loved. We served. At times we grieved. We listened. We helped a lot of people, and we did it together. Thanks for your support! Thanks for sustaining us through your prayers and gifts and visits and kindness.
OPPORTUNITIES: The ministry God has trusted us with is people. Part of our mission is to connect people with people. We have these 3 practices in our relationships: Do For. Do With. Be With. To accomplish our mission, we seek and welcome volunteers who not only want to serve others, but who also want to grow and receive from others. This is somewhat difficult to describe but it is our vision that our volunteers learn to both give and receive. We are not an agency. We are a ministry, and the growth and transformational experiences of our volunteers is equal to the growth of those Good Works service.
This fall we will again launch around 25 different opportunities for volunteers to love and serve our neighbors. TWO newer opportunities are (1) Loads of HOPE, our free laundromat and (2) Senior Friends, an opportunity to get to know one of the seniors we are serving at their home. We need volunteers. Good Works has been designed from the beginning to function (with fruitfulness) with volunteers. We do not go to the homes of seniors and do any Neighbors Helping Neighbors projects unless we have volunteers (and we have lots of people who are asking for our help). But maybe, more importantly, each of us need to serve others in some way. Each of us must giveourselves to others to remain healthy in mind and soul. When we do this in community it is very meaningful and fulfilling. So many things we do at Good Works cannot be done individually and must be done together, in community. It is in community where our work is sustained, and our sense of purpose fulfilled. In community we share responsibility and accountability and JOY! People often ask me what has sustained us for almost 45 years. The answer: Community. Please join us this fall as we intentionally learn to love people in their vulnerability. Sponsor Friday Night Life. Sign up for Saturday Service. Plan a Work Retreat. OR… Help with Loads of HOPE. Explore Senior Friends. Join the Timothy House team once a week, or once a month. To start the process, email us. Groups who want to come and serve start contacting us through email. Individual volunteers must come for a tour to receive an application. Maybe you want to help us get things from our needs list or want to contribute financially. Thank you! And thank you to each one of you who is already involved and supporting us!
Staff Profile
Garrett Mather-Smith grew up in Nelsonville. Soon after his mom experienced the Timothy House (TH) as a resident, Garrett started volunteering. He continued to volunteer serving for a season with Service Living, the Good Works campus organization, during his years studying math education at Ohio University. Also, during those years, Garrett did two Summer Service Internships with us. Soon after he finished at OU, he approached us to explore a full-time position at the Timothy House. Garrett initially started as a House Supervisor, focusing on maintaining the safety and cleanliness of the TH, and shortly began Caregiving, helping residents to work through the issues which caused them to experience homelessness. More recently, he has served as the Director of Caregiving, overseeing the TH staff, helping them to grow in their capacity to love and serve our residents.
IN THE NEWS
This month we launch another season of Saturday Service. We are welcoming individuals and groups to join us for a day of service to our neighbors all over Athens County on Saturdays!
We are also welcoming groups to serve with us during the summer of 2026. Maybe you are connected with a small group who would find JOY coming for a week-long Work Retreat next year.
Appalachian Immersion Internshiphas started another season. Do you know someone you might encourage to explore the A.I. internship this year?
Loads of HOPE, our free laundromat, will open two days a week starting this month. We continue to have lots of people come and lots of opportunities to talk with people. It is truly meaningful and enjoyable to serve our neighbors in this way! We welcome volunteers!
We are looking for a volunteer to help organize a display of some of our history, a volunteer who finds JOY in doing a mural, and someone to help us stretch carpet!
The Transformation Station will soon be providing vehicle # 210.
Friday Night Life moves from the Good Works property back to The Plains UM Church in October. We are thankful for the 25-year partnership we have with TPUMC. We are looking for small groups to sponsor a dinner.
This fall would be a great time to visit Good Works – walk the trails on the property, come for Friday Night Life, spend some time visiting with the staff or visit the Carter (solitude) Cabin.
Our Community LIFE is developed, sustained and strengthened through PRACTICES. From Promise Keeping, Truth-Telling, Hospitality and Gratitude … to Earn the right to speak, Get permission, Use respect and Assume God is at work…. these practices help us form and maintain a healthy community. In every Good Works context, we focus on relationship, trust, meeting a particular need, and finding a way for those we serve to give back (reciprocity). These (and other) practices enable us to fulfill our mission!
OUR COMMUNITY is currently planning a DAY IN THE LIFE event in Athens for Saturday February 28, 2026.
Last year, I wrote a short reflection on HOW PEOPLE CHANGE. I have updated it here: People change over time by being in/staying in a community where they are known, loved, and feel respected, safe, heard and seen. People change over time when they are invited to serve and offer their abilities, gifts and skills in an atmosphere of shared accountability; where they are appreciated and valued.
Where HOPE is nurtured through love day after day by people who are growing in love; people who value and practice sincerity, humility and honesty in their relationships; who are themselves teachable, kind, and willing to grow. To heal, we must be willing to stay in community with people we know are healthy for us, receive love, be vulnerable, work through our “stuff”, and accept some responsibility. Hurt people hurt people; but healed people heal people. I pray that we would be and become a community where both adults and children find healing, hope and experience “the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living”. (Psalm 27:13)
IN CLOSING…
I want to give thanks for God’s faithfulness to Darlene and me. On September 26, the three of us will celebrate our 44th anniversary. Yes, it’s true, the three of us have been together all of these years: Keith, Darlene and Good Works. It is “amazing grace”!! We have been sustained by the grace of God, the love of God and kindness from many of you. Thank you!
If you would like to participate in the mission and ministry of Good Works through giving,
