Friends, On January 1, Good Works will celebrate our 45th Birthday! We are grateful. I would really appreciate hearing from you to learn if you how you are experiencing our newsletters, and your thoughts about our mission and ministry.
October 2025
greetings from all of us in the Good Works community of HOPE!
Fall in southeast Ohio is beautiful. Beautiful. Come and walk the Good Works trails, experience the 30+ species of trees, spend a morning or afternoon at the Carter Cabin and join us for lunch!
We are seeking Work Retreat Groups to join us for a week-long service experience in 2026. Do you know of a group who might be interested in serving widows, widowers and adults with disabilities at their homes with us? The GW Hannah House team receives applications and then does a site visit where we meet the person applying and share about Neighbors Helping Neighbors. Unfortunately, we have to turn down some applications because we don’t have enough volunteers.
IN THE NEWS
We started another Neighboring 101 class this month. We are reading and discussing the book MAKING ROOM by Christine Pohl. We meet on Tuesdays from 12-1 pm, now through the end of November. We have offered several Neighboring 101 classes over the years.
Sign of HOPE continues to serve adults with disabilities who use a wheelchair and adults with emotional support animals. Loads of HOPE (our free laundromat) is now open two days a week. We continue to connect with a lot of adults and children that we do not intersect with in any other Good Works initiatives.
DAY IN THE LIFE (a “walk-like” experience), is scheduled for February 28, 2026. Would you consider coming? The staff are planning a special educational event that day. The giving season for DITL is now through the end of December. Our goal is to raise the funds to provide as many “days” in the life of the Timothy House for 2026 as possible. Each day requires around $500.00.
Applications are now available for our 2026 Summer Service Internship. We are seeking “college age” men and women to spend 9 weeks with us next summer.
Saturday Service started in September and will continue every week thought November. Would you like to join us one Saturday from 9-4? Contact us through email or phone to set things up.
Staff Profile
Tim Ling joined the staff in 2024. I first met Tim in the 1980s when I visited one of our supporting churches in Dayton. Tim now lives in the upstairs apartment of Sign of HOPE (SOH) and works on the Timothy House Team, with a focus on the residents who stay at SOH. Tim was trained as a social worker and has worked in several Dayton area hospitals and also in private practice. He has become an incredible asset to the TH team!
Patricia came to the GW Timothy House after having been incarcerated for 10 years. Her daughter had grown up without Patricia being there for her. Patricia commented how she thought she was better off not getting released early as she went through a recovery program that had helped her tremendously, as well as, taking a class that stimulated her worldview which eventually led to her becoming a Christian. Working toward her goals wasn’t always smooth or easy, but Patricia took the steps and linked with the resources available to her. Re-establishing a healthy relationship with her now adult daughter was challenging, but Patricia was motivated to work through the necessary growing pains. She was then able to locate an apartment where she, her aging mother and her daughter could all reside together. Patricia now has the opportunity to care for her mother and continue building the relationship with her daughter she has been thinking about for a long time. Patricia’s story brings to mind this portion of scripture from Isaiah 61:3 ”to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.” – Tim Ling
the Timothy House
While we began providing shelter in our home in 1981, it was soon after we formed ourselves as a non-profit that Good Works purchased the property on Central Avenue in1984. This house was named The Timothy House in1999. This is our 41st year of providing temporary shelter to adults and children from Southeast Ohio who experience homelessness at that location. We have a really great team there. They are filled with kindness, gentleness and wisdom. Most decisions about who stays are made together. Have we told you about the ethic of inefficiency? Things take longer, but we have a strength and ownership in these decisions. Our goal has remained the same over the years: to provide a safe, clean and stable (predictable) temporary place to stay while we help people identify, own and find pathways of HOPE to address the situation they are in. “Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it.” (Hebrews 13:2) There is a unique feeling when we welcome people into our home whom we do not know. What kind of feelings emerge in you when you invite strangers into your home?
I have been staying overnight at the TH several times this month. I come in around 8:45 pm and stay until around 8:00 am. I answer the phone, visit with the residents, learn and listen. I don’t usually know the residents very well, but my co-workers do, and I trust them. Years ago, (2013-2019) when the TH was full, the staff would say “we are full but there is a host family in the neighborhood who may be able to provide you with a place to stay”. When the caller indicated they would like that, the staff would make arrangements to welcome them, and they would stay at the TH during the evening until Darlene and I arrived at 10:00 pm to walk them back to our home. We did this for 6 years and helped a LOT of single men and women and families with children who were experiencing homelessness and needed a place to stay. We had intentionally moved back into the city of Athens in 2012 (after 25 years living outside the city) and we were located only 100 steps from the TH. This went well. It was during these years that I was reminded that there are no laws prohibiting homeowners from having guests stay in their home; and there are no laws restricting how many guests a homeowner may have. With the help of friends, we had renovated our home to have an outside entrance which went to a bedroom and a bathroom but did not come into the rest of our home. Things went well. We called what we did during those years, “Sign of HOPE”.
FRIDAY NIGHT LIFE
As I’ve been seeing Blake each week at Friday Night Life(FNL), I’m learning how fun it is to watch a young person grow in this context. I first got to know Blake a couple of years ago when I started being involved every week with FNL. I was asked to hang out with any kids or teens who came to FNL. At the time, Blake’s grandmother was sharing with some of the Good Works’ staff about how Blake had been getting in trouble at school, and I was often responding to times when Blake would act without thinking during FNL. I knew that Blake had a beautiful heart because I noticed after being at FNL with him for a few months, that he would raise his hand often when Keith asked wht people were thankful for, and he would always say either “God” or “Sophie”. Now, I am amazed each week that I spend time with Blake. He is exceptionally kind and inviting to any new kid or teenager who comes to FNL (and there have been several just in the last few weeks), and he is quick to gently remind others to be thoughtful and respectful when they act without thinking. I get lots of joy from seeing how his leadership skills develop as he guides others who are struggling with some of what he once struggled with. – Sophie Mather-Smith
If you would like to participate in the mission and ministry of Good Works through giving,
